


i 



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(ilass _. 
Book_ 



CX)PmiGHT DEPO»l r 



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jiaskeWs 

Women of the Bible 

wives of presidents, 



ETC. 



1892 



INTRODUCTORY REVIEW. 

BY DR. EUGICNE F. STORKE. 

"The Women of the Bible and Wives of Our Pres- 
idents, etc.," is the title of a new book now issuing 
from the press and challenging public attention. 
The auihor, Thomas Nelson Haskell, having finished 
his third volume of poetry and prose writings, has 
submitted it for an introductory review, and having 
perused it with pleasure and profit we predict for it an 
extensive and useful patronage. Complimentary as 
the press of different countries has been towards 
'■'Konkaput and Occasional Poems and Descriptive 
Pieces," we think this volume, in the same ornate 
style as the others, will attract still higher apprecia- 
tion. It has several distinct general subjects, each of 
which is popular and ennobling, and no readers of 
literary taste, who are either pious or patriotic, can 
fail to prize this new and unique contribution to the 
biblical, biogiaphical and historical literature of our 
land. 

The first section of this forthcoming book is a 
Resume of a larger work entitled "Echoes of Inspired 
Ages," and like that is conveniently arranged for 
daily reading. This resurvey of that ground is enti- 
tled "Women of the Bible," and is devoted entirely 
to the female personages found in the Sacred Scrip- 
tures, and has over seventy sketches of biblical char- 
acters, from Eve in Eden to Eunice and the "Elect 
Lady" of all lands, described by the Apostles, One 
beautiful character is word-painted on each page, in 
most part in flowing pentametres, with now and then 
Alexandrine couplets which do not, as Pope com- 
plained, "drag their slow length along." The suc- 
cessive page-poems are in their chronological order, 
and logically follow appropriate scripture passages on 
which they are based, and much thought and action 
are compressed into a limited space, giving the reader 
abundant matter for meditation. 



ir INTRODUCTION. 

Appropriately supplementing this division are brief 
poetical accounts of " Some Bible Women," in various 
lauds, whose characters were formed by reading 
Family Bibles, or — as in the Catholic examples given 
— indirectly from its influence. Among these notable 
women will be found Madame Guiyou, Madame 
Guizot, Mrs. Wesley, Mrs. Hemans, Queen Victoria. 
Jenny Lind and Florence Nightingale. The verses of 
tribute to their noble efforts, deeds and sacrifices, 
follow condensed historical sketches and suggestive 
scripture references. 

After this foreign section is one entitled: "Bible 
Women of America." In this a truly national spirit 
and very patriotic feelings are evinced. Taking up 
the songs and philanthropic services of Jenny Lind 
and Florence Nightingale, this begins with "Christian 
Nurses in Our Country's Need" and "Teachers of the 
Freedmen," and presents "The Wives of Missionaries, 
Home and Foreign," Christian Teachers in Sunday 
and public schools, and such "honorable women not 
a few" as Emma and Francis Willard, Amelia Welby 
and Mrs. Vice-President Morton. 

Then comes the "Mothers, Wives and Daughters of 
Our Presidents," nearly all of whom appear to have 
been Bible Women of great excellence, constituting 
the completest succession of historic female worthies 
in the world. W^ith these glorious themes the author 
seems entirely at home and certainly does rare and 
commensurate literary work. A long residence in 
Washington as pastor of an important church made 
him familiar with many interesting facts which he 
shadows forth succinctly in his rythmic words. Car- 
rying out the prevailing line of thought, he compre- 
hensively and briefly sums up into a single page the 
biography of each of these noble women as a nucleus 
around which gathers the halo of their country's 
glory and their illustrious husbands' high renown. 
From "Mary, the Mother of Washington" down to 
"Harrison's Daughter and Baby McKee," all are 
pleasantly depicted in true poetic colors, so that each 
reader feels acquainted with every " Lady of the 
White House " and their distinguishing traits. The 
book is free from all efforts at toadyism, poetical 



INTRODUCTION. ill 

exaggerations and historical inaccuracies. It is, as 
the author says, impaitial in politics, unsectarian in 
religion, and fair in everything. 

Immediately after these various tributes, and before 
the famous article on the President of the Rebel Con- 
federacy, is placed "Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe and 
Uncle Tom," which would have been among "The 
Bible Women of America," but for a careless omis- 
sion. This printer's blunder, however, proves to be a 
sort of Providential blessing, for certainly this portion 
of the book comes midway between the conditions 
which led up to secession and the rebellion itself, and 
it is proper to confront the two great anti-slavery and 
pro-slavery leaders together in the presence, as it 
were, of the glorious lovers of their country who have 
lived as our models in the Executive Mansion. There 
will be an intensified interest in this book also when 
the reader is informed that Professor Haskell's wife 
was the Miss Annie Edwards who acted as Mrs.Stowe's 
secretary in Andover, and their veneration for this 
renowned American authoress is very great and filial. 

Supplementing the poetical portion are these two 
prose articles, "Haskell's Reply to Redpath's 
Eulogy of Jefferson Davis" and his "Essay on 
Bribery and The Ballot," both of which are now 
of great political and public importance. It is in the 
first of these that the reader will find Mr. Haskell at 
his best. Strong though much of his poetry may be, 
yet in the fields of stirring prose does he evince his 
full strength and sterling worth. In proof of this see 
the closing paragraph of his spontaneous and able 
rejoinder to Redpath, from which we quote: 

"And when the relentless finger of time shall have 
rubbed out every inscription, and his mighty hand 
have thrown down the monument, there will still be 
written in history and upon the heart and memory of 
humanity also, this simple, solemn memorial, more 
enduring than time and more eloquent than eulogy: 
Wrong — though overruled and forgiven — is wrong 
forever." 

The closing essay on "Bribery" is both peerless 
and opportune, and is so candid and so conclusive 
that no conscientious American citizen can arise from 
its perusal without appreciating the supreme import- 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

ance of purifying our politics, and saying with Pro- 
fessor Haskell concerning the bribing of the ballot: 
" Franchise is more than friendship ; it is the life of 
this Nation. Were my dearest brother in this great 
wrong, I would defend the right hit whom I might. 
Let those who sympathize with these sentiments put 
on their virtuous armor and defend them with valor. 
Let no man despise his birthright. The Past, with all 
its sacrifices and examples ; the Present, with all its 
obligations ; the Future, with all its hopes, unite to 
say : Let every citizen stand by our suffrage as sentry 
and everybody do his duty to his kind and country." 

We have sincere words of commendation for this 
compact and comprehensive book, as remarkable for 
its marvelous originality as for its elegance of design 
and diction. That it will be interesting to all, who 
shall be so happy as to own and use it, we cannot for 
a moment question ; and we close by repeating that 
we have great pleasure in the work assigned us of 
Introductory Reviewer. 

E. F. S. 



British Reviews of Hasliell's Bool^s. 

The Rev. Fergus Fergii-ion, D. D., of Glasgow, a 
noted Scotch author and crilic, in a three column "Re- 
view of Haskell's Koukaput and Occasional Poems," 
sa3's: "The}- are most entertaining and useful vol- 
umes. The romance entitled 'Young Konkaput, the 
King of Utes,' begins with an exciting 'Indian Le- 
gend, of Twin Lakes,' and has its principal scenes laid 
among the Rocky Mountains. Although professedly 
a vi^ork of fiction, it may ba cons.dered as an imagin- 
ary embellishment and poetical exaggerations of facts 
which really were or might there have been. Its heroine, 
Susan, or Shawsheen, is a real personage, like Pocha- 
hontas, and the hero is the supposed son of a famous 
Sachem, Colorado I., whose twin sisters w^ere seized 
by invading savages and driven with their captors 
into the 'Upper Twinlake' and drowned. (An excel- 
lent frontispiece engraving represents this scene.) 
In this beautiful region 'King Konkaput' was born, 
and in the neighboring 'South Park,' he met and 
woed his dusky maid, whom he meant to make the 
Queen of Utes, when his mother, Piesse, shall have 
passed away. He is, however, tempted to enter upon 
a long trapping and hunting expedition, and never 
sees either of them. again; for during his absence an 
Indian war broke out, his betrothed, Shawsheen, is 
carried away captive, and both his parents perished. 

"After his return, the principal part of this roman- 
tic poem is occupied with Konkaput's wanderings 
among both savages and civilized people to find the 
captive squaw. He hears that she had been rescued 
by the whites from the burning stake and taken to the 
Pacific Coast; but there he is told she was carried East 
to be educated. Thither he goes and gets an education 



B REVIEWS. 

himself, but nowhere has any trace of his prospective 
queen. , As Ivougfellow's Evangeline searched for 
Gabriel, so young Konkaput has wandered from 
tribe to tribe and sea to sea without finding the object 
of his search; but in his lonely journeyings he sur- 
veyed the whole Indian subject and sets it forth 
'In thoughts that breathe and words that burn.' 

"At length he hastens back again to his tribe to 
help them into civilized life, and there learns that 
Shawsheen was restored to the Utes, and, supposing 
he was dead, has married a famous medicine man, 
and so can never be his wife. This makes him all the 
more devoted to his ennobling mission to raise sav- 
ages into saints and citizens. But alas! like our Lord, 
'became unto his own and his own received him not!^ 
Shawsheen 's brother, Arrow, had usurped the head- 
ship of the Utes and connives at Konkaput's death, 
but finally felt such compunction for this murder, 
heightened by certain papers found on the martyr's 
person (which a white man interpreted) that he often 
visits the dead king's grave to confess this sin, and 
enters even upon the very course of reform among 
his people which the enlightened Konkaput had 
planned. 

' ' Such, ' ' says the Scotch reviewer, " is an outline of 
the story that Professor Haskell tells in such a way as 
to make it very interesting and beneficial, too. There 
is a fine breeziness about the book, as if it breathed 
forth constantly the mountain air of freedom. The 
author everywhere evinces sympathy for the oppressed 
and weak of every race, and admiration for all liber- 
ators, of whatever clime; still he is not blind to the 
faults of the American aborigines, whom he repre- 
sents as being often savage in their cruelty, as seen 
in The ' Key to Konkaput, or. The Fate of the Phil- 
anthropic Meeker Family.' '" 



REVIEWS. c 

" We are very unwilling," continues the critic, "to 
find fault with so interesting and valuable a poem, 
but we venture a suggestion: There are five pages — 
(42—47) written in the measure of Longfellow's 'Hia- 
watha,' which are so admirably expressed that we 
fancy it would have been a decided improvement if 
the whole poem had been in that r^thm, instead of 
what musicians call the ' long metre' of Scott's poet- 
ical works. It could have been, even, in the measure 
of Evangeline and retained its original and unique 
character. Either of Longfellow's popular measures 
would have fitted the Legend of Konkaput well, and 
still left the author the imitator of none but himself. 
Homer did not copy Hesiod though both wrote hexa- 
meters, and no style is any one man's exclusively. 

"This criticism does not, of course, apply to the 
odes and addresses which the author, every here and 
there, puts in the lips of his principal characters. 
Thus ' Konkaput's Apostrophe Upon Pike's Peak ' 
(p. 177), in the French Alexandrine, is truly sub- 
lime, and we are sure our readers will like the young 
king's hymn upon 'The Mount of the Holy Cross,' 
beginning with this heaven-born assertion, (p. 183) 
" The loftiest thing in human thought 
Is God's redeeming love! " 

"As to HaskeIvIv's Domestic Poems, we should 
have mentioned sooner, that one attractive feature of 
these books is their admirable pictorial illustrations ; 
and here, after a modest, frank preface, which fully 
justifies the author's family feeling of friendship with 
his readers, we have a fine cut, called * Courting on 
Horseback,' in which the equestrians meet in a se- 
questered grove near the Andover lakes, and the like- 
ness and posture of Mrs. Haskell (Miss Edwards, 
then), are so very sweet and graceful that we do not 
wonder that the Professor fell in love with her. 



D REVIEWS. 

"la another engraviug the countenance of their 
dear daughter Florence, who died in Denver at the 
age of 14, and 3^et in what seems the maturity of 
womanhood, is so sedate and winning we do not won- 
der at the beautiful tribute to her memory, 'The Sec- 
ond Anniversary of Sorrow.' The other domestic 
pictures of both parents and children, and the types 
of women and maidens and martyrs and Susan are 
delightfully apropos, suggestive and eloquent, while 
the rougher 'chalk sketches,' like Konkaput with his 
sledge drawn by jubilant deer, are delightful for chil. 
dren and inspiring to all. 

" 'The Occasionai, Poems ' Foreign, Patriotic and 
Juvenile,' are also worthy of the beautifully printed 
book in which they are bound. We had no thought 
when we were once traveling in Palestine with Pro- 
fessor Haskell that he was writing a poem every day 
on passing scenes and events; but here the spontane- 
ous compositions are in terse and rythmical form upon 
topics of interest all the way from Egypt to Athens 
and the Alps, via Jerusalem, the Jordan, Damascus 
Smyrna, Mars Hill and Fireuzi, or Florence on Arno's 
fair and classic banks, till finally on vSwitzerland's 
Alpine pinnacle he sings: 

" On the top of Mt. Rhighi this Fourth of July, 
The year of our Lord eighteen sixty and two, 
I swear in Christ's name I were willing to die 
To make my dear country immortal and truel " 

"Soon after this consecration to his country's cause 
Mr. Haskell came to Scotland and here published in 
the Glasi^ozu Christian Nezvs an important Inter- 
national Letter upon 'The Origin, Issues and Pros- 
pective End of the Pro-Slavery War then Waging in 
the United vStates.' Opinions were much divided 
here then in regard to that war; but his instincts and 
predictions proved eventually to be correct ; for the 



REVIEWS. E 

Union cause triumphed and the slaves became free. 
Subsequently Mr. Haskell was Professor of Logic, 
Literature and Political Economy in the LTniversity 
of Wisconsin, but moved to Denver, Colorado, in the 
hope to save the life of his child, the beautiful Flor- 
ence before described. We have occasionally ex- 
changed letters from afar, and will be glad to meet 
our old fellow-traveler again in the fields of poetry 
or prose, and if not once more in the Palestine of 
earth will greet yet again in the Paradise of heaven." 

ANOTHER BRITISH REVIEWER SAYS : 

" I have found much amusement and profit in 
reading ' King Konkaput and Other Poems,' by Pro- 
fessor Haskell of Denver. The first is a rythmical 
romance suggested by the terrible ' Meeker Massacre,' 
and seems to give the true solution of the vexed In- 
dian problem in the United States. Having glanced, 
here and there through these neatly bound volumes, 
I was struck with their unique, original and highly 
picturesque character. Perceiving some most beauti- 
ful poetic gems of the first water therein, I said to 
myself: Here I shall find real mental recreation and 
rest. 

"But after a little more desultory reading, I became 
so fascinated with Konkaput that I could not lay it 
down. Even my meals seemed intruded upon me. 
Yes, 'Young Konkaput' is indeed a fascinating 
book, handsomely bound and elegantly illustrated. 
Its style is easy and perspicuous, rich in the sublime, 
flowing full of nature's charming scenes as they pass 
before the eyes like a panorama of the rocky crest of 
that great land, and each scene is photographed on 
the reader's mind by the pure and lucid style of the 
author. 

"It must enhance th^ pleasure of tourists through 



F REVIEWS. 

the Rocky Mouutain scenery to read Konkaput before 
starting on their trip. It would add good sauce to a 
rich feast. The rythmic and graphic style of this 
romance reminds one of Sir Walter Scott's Lady of 
the Ivake, though its tone and sentiments are purer 
and more ennobling. The lines are clearly drawn 
between savage and civilized Christian life. It is a 
book that is bound to live and become popular with 
lovers of nature and good poetry. While the whole 
book is a casket, still some of its gems are richer and 
more radiant than others. 

*■ How simply beautiful are the four stanzas entitled 
'The Holy Cross, by Konkaput.' There is a preci- 
ous gem that ought to be set in letters of gold. The 
thoughts reach the infinite, while the words are so 
meek! What lofty inspiration is breathed forth, also, 
in that graphic piece, ' King Konkaput's Apostrophe 
Upon Pike's Peak.' Another brilliant gem is 'The 
Last Lone Indian's Soliloquy' by the Sunset Sea, page 
121, and Zinziba's last letter to Konkaput, page 201, is 
as compact heroism a§ can be conceived, while the 
' Paraphrase to Pushamata's Address to La Fayette' is 
even better than Chief Logan's Hebraic rythm, so 
famous for its eloquence. 

" 'HaskeTwI^'s Occasionat, Poems' are also refresh- 
ing to the mind and do it good like a medicine. In 
reading them, I experienced the truth of Dr. Carpen- 
ter's teaching in his mental physiology, concerning 
the mutual influence of the body and the mind. The 
humor of the ' Quack Doctor and his Hypocondriac 
Case,' the playfulness of the 'Boy's Visit to the 
Moon,' and the solemn beauty of the 'Seerlike 
vSong of Sixty-One,' will suggest the pleasing variety 
that pervades all of Professor Haskell's books." 
Rev. Wm. Anderson, A. M. 

(Of Trinity College, Dublin.) 



REVIEWS. G 

OTHER TESTIMONIALS 

TWO BOOKS THAT ARE BEAUTIES. 

"Collier & Cleveland are publishing a new holiday 
issue of Haskell's Romance and Poems entitled 'The 
Legend of Twin Lakes — Konkaput and Key,' and 
'Occasional Poems at Home and Abroad.' These 
Vols. I. and IL are elegantly bound, gilt-edged and 
stamped for both shelf and center table. In matter 
and appearance they are twin beauties, and entitled to 
a place in every household library in the land. The 
books contain also two British Reviews and other 
opinions of the press that show a high appreciation of 
them as standard works that are in the literature of 
America to live and hold an honored place." 

Colorado Patriot. 

"Haskell's beautiful poems have won much praise 
here and elsewhere for their author. Mrs. Condit 
(who is a reader of fine literary taste) pronounced 
Konkaput 'fascinating and masterly.' She read, then 
re-read, and loaned to our friends. 

" Prof. P. M. Condit, 
"(vSupt. of Schools, Delta Co., Colo.)" 

"Thomas Nelson Haskell is one of the true poets. 
His Legend of Twin Lakes has not only poetic value, 
but its descriptions of natural scenery are excellent." 
^—Milwaukee Herald, (German). 

"Mr. Haskell not only deals with the Indian 
Question, but touches also our duty to the Colored 
People of the South, and writes with special facility 
when dealing with western scenes and themes. His 
Occasional Poems have a marked variety and merit." 
— Chicago Interior. 

" Of Haskell's Poems indicating high water mark, 
we single out the one 'On Leaving Jerico.' There 
can be no hesitation in ranking this with Ray 
Palmer's best." — Geo. BIcCLurg in Pike's Peak Herald. 



H REVIEWS. 

" ' The Story of Konkaput,' the King of Ute.^, aud 
Shawsheeu, his maiden Queen, is of thrilling interest 
and holds the reader's rapt attention from the open- 
ing verse to the closing linl^! — Hon. Arthur E. 
Pierce, in Denver Eye. 

** In Konkaput the author rises to unusual poetic 
altitudes, his plan is subtle and artisiic, and the en- 
thusiast ever prevails throughout its fascinating 
pages." — A. Kauffuuxn in Commonzvealth. 

KIND ESTIMATE OF A COLORADO AUTHOR. 

"Hon. Charles Townsend of Ohio, in speaking of 
Western authorship, says: 'I read with great satisfaction 
Prof. Haskell's Review of Redpath's Memories of 
Jefferson Davis. The arraignment of the great Con- 
federate leader's conduct is the essence of law and 
reason, so vigorously and clearly stated as to be 
unanswerable. I have never read an abler review. ' 
This literary statesman also writes concerning "Has- 
kell's Legend of Tvvin Lakes:" 'I read Konkaput with 
intense pleasure. Sweet and pleasing is the current 
of the rythm, and elevating and instructive the lesson. 
So graceful, indeed, in manner that it carries the 
reader along on easy and noiseless wings. I would 
rather be the author of this poem than hold any place 
of official distinction within the reach of reasonable 
ambition. ' ' — Denver Republican. 

"Professor Haskell mailed to Mr. Gladstone a 
copy of his 'Young Konkaput, the King of Utes,' not 
expecting any notice of its reception, but the Grand 
Old Man sent a very cordial and grateful autograph 
acknowledgment and appreciation of the work, signed, 
' Yours, very faithful and obedient, W11.1.IAM E. Gi^Ar 
STONE." — Rocky Mountain News. 

'For other "Opinions" of the book see notices in 
the back part. 



WOMEN OF 



THE BIBLE 



A RESUME 



Echoes of Inspired Ages, 



THOMAS NELSON HASKEl.L, 

I > 

AUTHOR OF 

'MESSIAH AND HIS MARTYRS," SEVERAL BOOKS FOR SOLDIERS, 

"THE LEGEND OF TWIN LAKES," "OCCASIONAL 

POEMS," ETC., ETC. 



DENVER : 

The Reed-Wheelon Pub. Co. 
1892. 



iTA^i^tfy^ 



t 






i\.LL Rights Reserved. 



DEDICATION. 

To my Mother, Wife, Sisters and Daughters, and 
to all Women who sincerely love the Word of God 
and the model characters which it contains, is this 
work dedicated with a glad and giateful heart. 

T. N. H. 



Contents. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 

Invitation— Come Heod the Call, 1 

Bible Women the Fairest in the World, 2 

Help of Women in the World's History, 3 

The First Woman and her Future Worth, 4 

The Four Women that Would Cross the Flood, 5 

Three Maternal Ancestors of Messiah at Mamre, fi 

Rachel the Lover of Children, Leah's Rival, 7 

"Remember Lot's Wife," Ancestress of Ruth, 8 

Hagar's Sorrow and Help with Ishmael, her Son, .... 9 

Hebrew Midwives and their Heathen Monarch, 10 

Jochebed, Moses' Judicious Mother, 11 

Moses' Sister, Miriam, Mistress of Song, 12 

Inspired Helpers on the Lord's House, 13 

The Faith of Rahab, the Harlot Reformed, 14 

Judge Jephtha's Daughter— Joy and Grief, 15 

Judge Deborah, the Seeress, and her Divine Song, .... 10 

Jael the Kenite, and Sissera's Mother, 17" 

Judge Samson's Mother and her Mighty Son 18 

Naomi and Ruth, the Redeemer's Mother, 19 

Hannah, the Mother in her Nation's Emergency, . . , . 20 

The Women who Sang of David and Saul, 21 

Michal, Saul's Daughter, Saving David from Death, ... 22 

Abigail, "the Wise and Beautiful" Wife and Widow, ... 23 

The Wise Woman of Tekoah and her Miserable Mistake, . 24 

The Wise Woman of Abel and her Pacific Power, .... 25 

The Wise Mother of the Wisest of Men— Bathsheba, . . . 2G 

Rizpah's Devotion to her Crucified Sons, 27 

Jereboam Sends Ano to Ahijah the Seer, 28 

So Ano Comes Mourning to Tirza To-day, 29 

The Great Woman of Shunem in Grief for her Son ,30 

A Prophet's Widow with her Sons in Want, 31 

The Little Maid and her Leprous Master, 32 

Jehoshabeth Saving her King's Son, ,33 

Athaliah, a False Mother and a Foul Murderess, .... 34 

Wicked Jezebel, Harlot Wife of Ahab, 35 

Huldah, a Prophetess Heroic Before Princes, 36 



ii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Esther the Queen— Whence the Wise Men Came, .... 37 

Elizabeth, the Mother of John the Baptist, 3S 

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, the Messiah, 39 

Anna the Seeress, Owning the Infant Savior, 40 

The Legend of Amibition to Bear Our Lord, 41 

The Hunchback Daughter of Abraham Healed, 42 

The Kuler's Daughter Raised From the Dead, 43 

Mary Magdalen's Love for her Lord, 44 

Herodias, a Mother, with the Head of her Martyr, .... 45 

A Grecian Woman with Great and Wonderful Faith, . . . 4G 

A Widow Solaced when Weeping for her Only Son, .... 47 

Peter's Wife's Mother and her Pious Ministry, 48 

The Woman of Samira Winning Others to Messiah, ... 49 

The "Woman that was a Sinner," 50 

The Adulterous Penitent Arraigned and Pardoned, .... 51 

Martha, Exacting Sister but Excellent Hostess, 52 

Her Sister Mary Sitting with Their Master, 53 

Salome: Who was Mother of Zebedee's Children? . . . . 5t 

Pilate's Wife Procla, and Peter's Accusers .55 

The Women at the Tragic Mountain, .56 

The Women at the Sepulchre, 57 

Did Women See Our Lord as He Went Into Heaven? ... 58 

Jesus' Mother in the Pentecost Prayer-Meeting, .... 59 

Saphira's Sin Against the Holy Ghost 60 

Mary the Mother of Mark and her Meeting for Prayer, . . 61 

Rhoda, the Damsel that H'lrked at the Door, 62 

Tabitha— Dorcas— Raised from the Dead, 63 

Lydia, the Hostess who Loveth the Lord, 64 

The Demoniac Damsel and Slave, 65 

Deacon Philip's Four Daughters 66 

"Candace of Ethiopia" and "Queen of the South," ... 67 

Phebe the Deaconess, and Other Daughters of God, ... 68 

And "Honorable Women Not a Few," 69 

Eunice and Lois and their Lives Even Now, 70 

"The Elect Lady" and her Like in all Lands, 71 

Saint Agnes, and Such as then Knew the Savior, 72 

BIBLE WOMEN. 

"Santa Monica," Augustine's Mother, 73 

Kathrine Von Bora, an Augastine Monk's Bride, .... 74 

Annie Askew, a Bible Reader, Burned, 75 

"The Woman on the Scarlet Beast" Burning a Blind Girl, . 76 

"Saint Elizabeth" of Hungary, 77 

"Saint Theresa" of Spain, 7S 

Madam Guyon— the Godly "Mystic," 79 



CONTENTS. Ill 

PAGK 

Madam Guizot and his Goflly Mother, SO 

Grace Aguilar, a Godly Jewess, 81 

Princess Louise, Prussia's Illustrious Queen, 82 

Victoria, Empress of India and Queen of England, .... 83 

Kamabai of India, Born Again of the English Bible, ... 84 

Madam Susannah Wesley — "Mother of Methodism," ... 8.') 

Mistress Hannah More and her Devout Works, 86 

"Charlotte Elizabeth" and her Loyalty to Truth, .... 87 

Mrs. Felicia Hemans and her Pilgrim Hymn, 88 

Jennie Lind, "The Swedish Nightingale," 89 

Florence Nightingale and her Aid to America, 90 

BIBLE WOMEN OF AMEBIC A. 

The Cliristian Nurses in our Country's Need, 91 

Women that Followed the War as Teachers of Freedmen, . 9i 

The Widow Lee, of East Tennessee, and her Son, 93 

"The Angels of Buena Vista," by the Quaker Bard, ... 94 

Isabella de Herera, "The Rose of Pervi," 95 

Mesdames Guyort and (^hauveny, of Quebec, 9fi 

Margaret Bourgeoys, of Montreal, 97 

Our Bible Women as Missionaries Abroad 98 

Home Missionaries' Wives as Bible Women, 99 

Young Women Teaching the Bible in Sunday Schools, . . 100 
A Common School Teacher who Tauglit Christian Truth, . 101 

Mrs. Emma Willard, whose Mission was Grand 102 

Miss Frances E. ^Vlllard, of the World's W. C. T. U 103 

Utterly Bereft— Mrs. President Marsh, 104 

Amelia (/. Wclby, a Wondrous Mistress of Song 105 

Mrs. Vice President Morton, and her Motherly Pride, . . 100 

OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 

Prefatory Notice 2 

Mary, Mother of Washington, 3 

Martha, Washington's Wife, 4 

Abigail Adams, the Second President's Wife, 5 

Martha Jefferson and her Daughters, 

Mrs. Dorothy (Payne) Madison, 7 

Mrs. Eliza (Cortright) Monroe, 8 

Mrs. Louisa (Johnson) Adams, J. Q 9 

Mrs. Rachel (Donelson) Jackson and Niece, 10 

Mrs. Hannah (Hoes) Van Buren and Angelica V. B., . . . 11 

Mrs. Anna (Symms) Harrison, 12 

Mrs. Letitia (Christian) Tyler (and Julia* G. T.) 13 

Mrs. Sarah (Childress) Polk 14 

Mrs. Margaret (Smith) Taylor and Daughter, 15 



iv (U)NTKNTS. 

PAGE 

Mrs. Abigail (Powers) Fillmore, 16 

Miss Mary Abigail Pillmoro, 17 

Mrs. Jane (Appleton) Pierce, 18 

Miss Harriet Lane— Buchanan's Niece, 19 

Mrs. Mary (Todd) Lincoln 20 

Abraham Lincoln's Mother, 21 

Mrs. Eliza (McCardle) Johnson, 22 

Johnson's Daughters, Martha and Mary, 23 

Mrs. Julia (Dent) Grant 24 

Mrs. Sartoris— The Nation's Pet, Nellie 25 

Mrs. Lucy (Webb) Hayes, 26 

Mrs. Eliza Ballou Garfield (Mother), 27 

Mrs. Lucrctia (Rudolph), Garfield's Wife, 28 

Mrs. (Herndon) Arthur, and Mrs. McElroy, 29 

Mrs. Frances (Folsom) Cleveland, 30 

Miss Rose Cleveland— The "Maiden Mistress," 31 

Mrs. Carrie (Scott) Harrison, 32 

Harrison's Daughter and "Baby McKee," 33 

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe and "Uncle Tom," 34 

Haskell's Reply to Redpath's Eulogy of Jefferson Davis, . . 
Haskell's Essay on Bribery and the Ballot 



INVITATION. 

come! heed the call,, both one and all! 

Come to my garden and gather the lilies and spices. Wake, 
O north wind, and come thou south; and breathe on the flow- 
ers, that their fragrance may flow forth. Where is thy beloved, 
O fairest of women? Let liim come and feast on the pleasant 
fruits. Come, daughters of Zion, see King Solomon crowned by 
his Mother, in the day of his espousals and gladness of lieart. 
(See Solomon's Song.) 

Come into my garden of spices; 

Abide in the beautiful bovvers; 
Discern all its artful devices; 

Its fragrance, its fruits, and its flowers; 
There feast with the "fairest of women," 

Bright stars in the Biblical story, 
Who shine more than diamonds and ermine 

And "Solomon in all his glory!" 

O look and rejoice at the lilies and roses. 

While breezes, spice-laden, breathe love half un- 
spoken, 
And virgins declare, aye, their virtue discloses 

The troths that they breathe, all too true to be 
broken ; 
And lives all day long are delightful in duty. 

And voices of song greet the sunbeams so vagrant; 
And blush, like pomegranates, emblazens love's 
beauty, 
Till matronly fruits shall mature fresh and fragrant. 

Aye, come to this garden — to Eden's enclosure; 

To Miriam's brave marching with timbrels and 
dancing; 
To Debora's people she saved from exposure; 

To women w4io sang Saul and David's advancing; 
To Ruth in her beauty, 'mong Bethlehem reapers; 

To Hannah, when called to her hopeful confession; 
To women with Christ, and his sepulchre weepers — 

How precious in faith this whole female procession ! 

Come, come, then, regale in these gardens of roses — 
1^'rom Eden, from Sharan, from Bethany's greeting, 

From the garden wherein e'en the Godhead reposes 
And women with spices the Angels are meeting; 

O visit my gardens, Mary Magdalens, even— 

And here enter kindly the kingdom of heaven! 



1 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE BIBLE AVOMEN WILL BE FOUND THE FAIREST IX THE WORLD. 

rin all the land there were found no women so fair as the 
daughters of Job— the earliest of Biblical authors. He named 
them Jemima— bright as day; Cassia— the aroma of heaven, and 
Cornucopia — a horn of plenty and beauty; and their father gave 
them inheritance among their brethren.]— Job xlii:14-15. 

There's beauty in the heavens above, 

And beauties on the earth abound, 
But the best thing of thought is love 

That in "fair women" will be found; 
For beauty of their body beams 

In highest acts of heavenly art 
On matter animate, that teems 

With beauties of both mind and heart. 

When in creation's course there came to view 

The beautiful, in sky and field and flower, 
And moving things, in varied modes, so new, 

Appropriate, and proud of life and power, 
The human form came forth" a finished fact; 

Earth's Maker in his image made a man. 
To imitate himself in mind andiact, 

Then closed with Woman — climax of his plan. 

And w^omen vary over all the world; 

This great variety gives spice to lives; 
The banner of their love hath been unfurled 

By model Women — maidens, mothers, wives; 
Those in the Bible are the best of earth — 

Unless we look at lives now by it led, 
Whose loveliest features in its faith have birth, 

For brightest beauties found are Bible-bred! 

The Bible woman's the most beautiful 

In every land; m work and love as well; 
Her days and nights, indeed, how dutiful. 

And time and tongue would fail her worth to tell. 
"Wise women" often grace the Word of God; 

Brave, wise, fair, beautiful, will there be found; 
Then go, retrace, where'er God's Truth hath trod, 

Till "Rights of Women" o'er the world resound, 
And these kind people keep their recompence, 
And, like their brethren, have inheritance! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. O 

THE HELP OF WOMAN IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. 

[God said: It is not good that man should be alone; 1 will 
make a help meet for him. A woman that feareth the Lord, 
she shall be praised. Give her the fruit of her hands and let 
her own works praise her.]— Genesis i:27; Proverbs xxxi:30. 

The noblest feature in a nation's faith, 

Is formed from mutual confidence 
Of sex, when each sincerely prayeth 

For heaven's pledpfed inheritance. (Psalms 127:3) 
No ancient people e'er this fact 

Possessed, in vital power and zest. 
Like Bible women, who did act 

Upon this fact and so were blessed. 

Fidelity and fortitude abound 

In women of that rare and wondrous race; 
Deeds chaste, heroic, charming, here are found, 

And grandest fame grows hence from female grace. 
From Rachel's virtue rose the valiant strength, 

When Joseph broke Zuleeka's brazen snares; 
Our Christian loyalty hath come at length 

From Bible women and their works and prayers. 

The Bible-Mother and the Bible-Maid 

Were source and succor of their nation's might; 
Surpassing worthy, and without parade, 

Their temper, good and true for God and right, 
Did not desert them in their darkest age; 

In startling changes of both church and state 
Appear they aproims upon the stage, 

And kings and wise men on their counsels wait. 

We should judge nations noic by notions shown 

Regarding woman and her rights and wrongs; 
And note that thence is naturally known 

What future fortune to their fate belongs. 
It will be good to turn, then, to God's Word, 

To test its patterns of the pure and true. 
From Eve to Eunice, "handmaids of the Lord," 

Till Christian virtues rise in quick review, 
And women rule the world as their reward 
For ''''fearing GocV and founding Home regard; 
Although their life at home is often hard! 



4 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE FIRST WO.MAX AND HER FUTURE WORTH. 

[And God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the first man 
Adam, and took one of his ribs and made a woman, and brought 
her unto the man; and Adam said: This is now bone of my 
bone and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman; therefore 
shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his 
wife, and they two shall be one flesh. And Adam called his 
wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living; and 
he begat sous and daughters.]— Genesis i:27; ii:lS-24; iii:20; v:4. 

A sinless sight of sinless Eve, 

More fair than Ariadne's face, 
Or Marrj sitting to receive 

Titian's last touch of tender grace, 
Is here displayed in homely speech, 

Inspired with beauty from above; 
Till Adam's tongue to us doth teach 

The claims of all connubial love. 

Thence we obtain the best ideas on earth 

Of mankind's social duties the most dear; 
Of woman also— her immortal worth — 

In modest virtues which all men revere. 
She is indeed embodied art divine; 

The crowning part of the creative plan ; 
The last best gift of God's ornate design; 

The partner, helpmeet, and the hope of man. 

Her source, from her own sleeping consort's side; 

His flesh and bones selected and refined. 
Into the beautiful young maid and bride, 

Endowed with modest and devoted mind. 
Well suited his unselfish love to win; 

Her social nature — known to Satan well; 
Her godly sorrow for her guilty sin; 

Her unbelief, that disobeyed and fell: 

Her origin, her actions, and her heirs; 

Her guileless nature, near her guilt and grief; 
Her promised "Seed" to heed her sighs and prayers; 

Her full brief sketcJt can scarcely fail belief! 
The delicate love-legend of her life — 

As real Madonna of our mortal race. 
This world's ^rs^ maiden,u'oman, mother, wife— 

Engraves her, source of grief, and source of grace, 
Weak struggler with the strong in this world's strife; 
Our Lord's first Mother dear, let all revere! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. O 

THE FOUR WOMEN THAT WOUI^D CROSS THE FLOOD. 

[And Noah went into the ark, and his three sons and his wife 
and his three sons' wives with him; and the ark went upon the 
face of the waters, uuti] it rested on Mount Ararat. Tlien Noah 
went forth with his wife and liis sons and their wives, and they 
built an altar unto the Lord, and He blessed them, saying: Be 
fruitful and multiply and replenish the eartli.]— (ienesis vii 
and viii. 

The wives of Bradford, Allerton, 

Of Winslow, and Miles Standish brave, 
World-wide renown for wisdom won, 

Because their wills could breast the wave. 
And bear their loving lives afar. 

To plant a new world's life and joy, 
There precious future homes prepare 

Where old-world sins would less annoy. 
And never more the earth destroy. 
And thus these ancient wives — those women four, 

Stood bending near that brave stupendous bark, 
That soon must bear them mighty billows o'er. 

To make on new and unknown worlds their mark 
Of moral and religious might and worth; 

We look upon them with both love and awe. 
Those famous Mothera of the future earth. 

The life adherents of God's holy law; 
The bravest women this world ever saw! 
They gladly entered in that "Ark of God;" 

There gave themselves each day to God in prayer; 
And thus were borne, by night, by day, abroad. 

The conscious objects of his constant care, 
Until they safely rest on Ararat, 

And share the new world's bleak and nameless 
shore; 
Then on the sands the cold encampment sat 
And ruminate on years and scenes of yore; 
And on their barren place blessings implore. 
Most desolate, indeed, ilielr "Plymouth Rock!" 

But they had courage equal to their care; 
And all the future from their little tiock, 

Rose earth to culture and kind homes prepare. 
Forgive the world, for these four women's sake, 

That they have shared so little human thought. 
Who could with courage such work undertake, 
To teach the will to do what wisdom taught, 
A righteous and new heaven and earth to make; 
The old world's fetters into flinders brake! 



ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE THREE MATERNAL ANCESTORS OF MESSIAH AT MAMBE. 

[And Jacob said: Bury me in the cave of Machpela in Marare; 
there they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. Isaac and Re- 
bekah his wife, and there I buried Leah — of wiiose son I said: 
The ceptre shall not dej)art from JuiUili till Shiloh comes. And 
there appeared a wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the 
sun ancl the moon was under her feet, and on her head a crown, 
of twelve stars. J — Genesis xlii; Hebrews xi; Revelations xii. 

A brave chaste woman, cherished by 

The man who won her maiden hand, 
Moving o'er plains and mountains high, 

Led to some lonely, far oif land. 
And garnered in "God's acre" there, 

Where coming ages crowd along, 
And keep her tomb with constant care — 

Such is the substance of this song. 

So "Sakai" marched beside her manly spouse, 

When Ahram went, as bidden, he knew not where; 
So, too, Rebeka rode to join his house; 

And so w^ent Leah, in kind Israel's care; 
^From Haran's meads these heroines thus move, 

Into the happy, verdant, Hebron vale, 
Three loyal cases of connubial love, 

Whose faith and constancy could never fail. 

And when the first became, through faith, the dame, 

Sarai, "my lady," was saluted soon, 
As Sarah, "Princess," hence her proper name. 

Whose pious daughters tread upon the moon. 
Devout Rebeka saw the Damascene (Genesis 15:2.) 

Portray his Patriarch's promise, troth and prayer; 
With spirit marked what such espousals mean, 

And soon was bride of Abrah'm's only heir. 

Next Judah's mother, Jacob's modest bride. 

Saw her Redeemer in descent so dear. 
That Israel begged "O bury me beside 

My wife in Mamre; tJicre I hinied Leah!" 
Thus three line MofJiers of their Lord, Messiah, 

Are sleeping 'neath the ancient Mamre grove. 
And their Descendant, named "The Earth's Desire,'* 

Is calling all the world to Christian love! 
Soft be their beds in tombs that still abide. 
With their three consorts sleeping by their side, 
Till Shiloh garner all, our heavenward guide! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 
RACHEL, THE LOVER OF CHILDREN AND RIVAL OF LEAH. 

[Leah was blear-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful, and Jacob 
loved her, but she envied Leah and said: Give me, also, chil- 
dren, or I die. So God heard her prayer, and she bore Joseph 
and Benjamin— but dying in child-bed, was buried in the way 
near Bethlehem— where ages after, the prophets fancied her 
weeping over Herod's slaughter of the innocents.]— See Genesis 
xxix-xxxvi: Jeremiah xxxi :!."); Matthew ii:18, 

A shepherd lass, named for her sheep, 

A buoyant maid in beauty's mold, 
Her father's flocks for hire did keep, 

On ancient plains, pleasant as old. 
Laughing- she looked upon her lambs 

That grazed and gamboled on the green. 
And ruled over her dams and rams 

As quietly as if their queen. 

There, Rachel— modest, chaste, a rural miss — 

So longed to know and love some noble man. 
That Jacob came with joy and sealed the kiss 

Of love, whence their two lives together ran. 
(Genesis 29-11.) 
Then Joseph's mother, she with modest joy 

Impressed his heart with pure and hopeful pride, 
That bred a manly mind within her boy. 

Developing deep virtue when she died. 

Her second son, Benoni, 's "sorrow's heir" — 

For, groaning on her bed in dying grief. 
She poured her heart and hope to heaven in prayer — 

Her love for children here laid down her life! 
In after ages, when Jesus was born. 

And Heroci killed (he thought) the infant king, 
Her spirit, like a spectre, seemed to mourn 

O'er murdered babes, 'bout whom their mothers 
cling. 

A voice of horror was in vision heard, 

Of Rachel, weeping around children slain! 
It seemed as if the very stones are stirred — 

And never would be comforted again! 
Lo! Rachel's love of children yet doth lead; 

Her monuments, by Bethlehem, remain; 
And righteous they who love these lives to read. 

In mind of her and Herod's murd'rous reign. 
Lo! Bethle'em Judah lives, a beauteous gem; 
Rachel burled, Jesas born, at Bethlehem! 



« ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

"REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE," THE AXCESTKESS OF RUTH. 

[As it was in the days of Lot (Abrah'm's nephew I so will it 
be wiien the Son of Man is revealed. Remember Lot's wife; for 
when the Angels hastened Lot out of Sodom, she looked back 
from behinci, and in the rain of fire and brimstone became 
encrusted as a pillar of salt. Yet God overruled the guilt of her 
daughters for good in the gift of Ruth, the Redeemer's ances- 
tress indeed. |— Genesis xix:2t)-37; Ruth i:4; Luke xvii:26-li7. 

Full many have forgot, 

'Mong heirs of Eve and Adam, 
The luckless "wife of Lot," 

When fleeing out of Sodom; 
Whose case by Christ's command. 

Is carefully confirmed; 
So, if her story stand, 

Forewarned should be forearmed. 

Joseph us, too, the just historian Jew, 

Says that he saw her statue still in salt, 
To pro\e the law and prophets live as true 

And that her faith and fancy were at fault. 
I see her statue here in history stand, 

In moral meaning set among mankind; 
It lasts, a monolyth, in many a land, 

To warn all classes to be well inclined. 

She and her daughters do not shine, indeed, 

Like Ciiristian women, in a Christian world; 
But then, remember well the words w^e read, 

The fires of Sodom on its sins were hurled. 
So wicked was the city wliere they lived; 

So loose, so lustful, was the Siddim land, 
Those women had been of wise helps deprived; 

And yet, through Ruth, Chrisfs ancestois they 
standi 

When urged by Justice and Jehovah's hand, 

With words to "hasten" on our heavenly way, 
^Tis well to keep in mind Chrisfs kind command; 

Heaven's wisest beings would his word obey! 
I would not be a learning, by my woe, 

Against such dalliance in safe duty's path, 
When God would urge and guide me where to go, 

To find salvation from such sacred wrath; 
And yet, 'twere better, even, to be so. 
Than help to save no beings here below. 



WOMEN OP THE BIBLE. 9 

hagar's help and sorrow, with ishmael her son. 
[When Sarah saw Ishmael, Hagar's son, mocking Isaac, she 
said to Abraliam: Cast out the Egyptian woman and her son ! 
And he took bread and a bottle of water and gave unto Hagar, 
and they departed, and when the water was gone, she laid her 
child under a shrub and went over against him and wept; and 
God heard the voice of the J ad, also, and called out of heaven, 
saying: Wliat aileth thee, Hagar? Arise, lift up the lad, for I 
will make him a great nation. And she saw a well near and 
replenished their water. J— Genesis xxi:l-20. 

Earth's sorrows seem the more severe, 

When, foUowingr in our weary way, 
They are repeated year by year. 

And dupHcated day by day; 
But, lo, this woman ticice^- so lone, (Genesis It): 8.) 

With none but Heaven to see or hear. 
Hath noiv, in sohtude, the moan 

Of her starved diikl upon her ear. 

Two Hves are cUnging to the desert's breast; 

Tico weary outcasts wilt beneath the sun; 
Their burning thirst forbids them both to rest; 

Of either strength or water they have none! 
So Hagar lays her Ish-ma-el down to die— 

Beneath a withered shrub, and steals aw^ay; 
She cannot look upon his languid eye, 

And seeks in perfect solitude to pray. 

When two wrecked sailors, on an untried sea. 

Are drifting death ward on a shifting spar. 
And one is entering eternity 

From that wide w^aste of waters off so far, 
O, hear their cry, for help, that rends the sky! 

So Hagar wept, a heart rent Mother's wail 
Of utter woe! Her anguished, piercing cry, 

With Ishmael's going, doth with God prevail ! 

He heard the voice of the young dying lad; 

His Angel called to Hagar out of heaven: 
What aileth thee, O woman, wan and sad! 

A hardy Nation as thine heir is given 
Through this, thy son; go take him by the hand; 

For see, a living spring is flowing near, 
A fountain La-Hcii-Roi, and my command 

Is for thy guidance and thy child's good cheer, 
Whose heirs shall ever stand in many a land! — 
Hence as swift ages run Mohammed is her son ! 

* Sec Patriarchal Period, page 109. 



10 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

* THE HEBREW'S MID-WIVES VERSUS THEIR HEATHEN MOXARCH. 

[Children are a heritage of the Lord: the fruit of the womb is 
his reward; his jfirst command said: Be fruitful, multiply and 
replenish the earth. But the king of Egypt said to the Hebrews' 
mid-wives: If their babe be a son, ye shall kill it ! They, how- 
ever, feared (xod, and saved the men children alive; therefore 
God dealt well with tlie mid-wives and made them houses,] 
—Genesis i:28; ix:l-7; Exodus i:15-21; Psalms cxxxvii:3. 

We boast of love and letters both; 

Own practices humane our pride, 
And mourn and grieve the modern growth 

Of that foul sin, infanticide ; 
But Egypt's King enjoined to kill 

Defenceless babes the day they're born, 
And these brave mid- wives' better will 

Could scarce avail his crime to scorn. 

These women, doubtless, were some Coptic dames 

Set over the slave mothers to consign 
Their babes to death. With noble, pleasing names, 

Of Shiprah, "handsome," Puali, "tresses fine," 
Their fear of God was more than Pharaoh's awe; 

For they had watched the Hebrew women's prayers, 
And learned therefrom Heaven has a higher law, 

Than any brutish monarch ever bears. 

They found those slaves foresaw their Savior's life 

And kept with special care its sacred springs, 
And how child-bearing helps to cheer the wife. 

While God her offspring guards and heavenward 
brings; 
So, well He blessed those mid-wives in their cares; 

Their deeds He honored with divine award; 
"God made them houses" — of most goodly heirs, 

Love's promised heritages of the Lord. 

'Tip thus that blending races oft are blessed, 

Whose women love the laws of waking life. 
And rise up in devotion's reason dressed, 

As mother, helper, maiden and wid-wife; 
And happy they who have as parents heard 

Heaven's first great blessing in God's first command 
In this sublimely wise and simple word: 

"God blessed them; be ye fruitful; fill the land;" 
Inherit loving children from the Lord, 
And for earth's future good have first regard! 

* See also "Israel in Egypt." 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 11 

JOCHEBED, MOSES' GLORIOUS* MOTHER. 

[Pharaoh then charged his people, saying; Every son that 
is born unto the Hebrews, ye shall cast into the river. Now 
Amram, of the house of Levi, took Jochebed to wife of his own 
tribe, and she bore him a son and made a basket of bulrushes, 
daubed it with slime and pitch, put her babe therein, and laid 
it in the flags by the river's brink, and his sister, Miriam, 
watched to see what would be done unto him.]— Exodus ii:l-10; 
vi:20. 

Mark well how much that Nile scene means! 

There a stout-hearted mother stands 
For human life! On Heaven she leans, 

And her kind Miriam commands: 
"Go, watch thy brother's fragile bark, 

And see what guardian God will send 
To find the little bulrush ark. 

The infant foundling to befriend!" 

It surely may be with some fairness said: 

Jochebed stamped JeJiovah on her sons; 
And in the mother we see, too, the maid, 

Who soon as bidden, swift to her ambush runs, 
To watch the babe that slept and waked and wept, 

When floating loose among the flag leaves there; 
To see what careful angels saw and kept 

The outlawed infant — for a living heir. 

Go, seek that mother's God ! Hear this girl's heart 

Rise from the reeds, in which she's hidden, with fear 
And hope; as when the starlings heavenward start 

At fancied sights they fear or sounds they hear! 
So, up she's borne for safety, from above; 

Her mother's prostrate in her hut at prayer; 
Both heaven and earth seem hushed in holy love. 

And take the typic Christ in tender care. 

Lo, now, a princess lightly presses near 

The river-brink, to take her royal bath! 
"What must that basket mean? Maids, bring it here!" 

She saith, and rescues him from the king's wrath 
The Pharaoh's daughter there adopts the boy; 

The "'glorious'^" mother's gladly made the nurse; 
Jochebkd's heart ascends in holy joy 

And voices Miriam's valor into verse; 
For this fond daughter shall in future days 
Lead forth God's people in more "glorious" praise! 

* Jochebed means "glorious." See more of her in ''Israel 
in Egypt." 



12 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

MOSES' SISTER, MIRIAM, BECOMES A SEERESS OF MARTIAL SONG. 

[After this the Lord saved Israel, by tlie hand of Moses, his 
servant, overthrowing the Egyptians in the Red sea; and Mir- 
iam, the prophetess, sister of Aaron, the priest, led all the 
women with timbrels and dancing: Sing ye to the Lord; for he 
hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he hath 
drowned in the sea.]— Exodus xv:l-20; Ezraii:t)4; I Samuel xviii:6 

Still, Moses' sister, Miriam, stands 

The first sure prophetess of songs; 
She leads the minstrels of all lands 

In thrilling and advancing throngs. 
Sapho did not so sweetly sing 

As Miriam, in her march of praise, 
Whose minstrels sing till mountains ring 

With loud responses to her lays. 

With lofty music dance her maids along. 

Till "all the women" wake to minstrelsy. 
And send the echoes of her sacred song 

From cliff to summit and across the sea: 
''Let us sing to the Lord for Ids triumph is glorious; 

The horse and his rider he hath drowned in the sea; 
He hath led forth his people in peace and victoj^ious; 

Hallelujah forever! The Hebrews are freeT 

Oft since that date, on their deliverance days, 

The Hebrew women would, even hundreds strong, 
Pour grandly forth the grateful people's praise; 

And sometimes Mothers, seeresses of song, 
Did praise and prophesy, in princely strains. 

Beholding well, before their sons were born. 
The marlial ranks that magnified their reigns; 

Thence minstrel dances many lands adorn. 

The race is led by legends, ruled by laws; 

Earth's minstrel music molds her monuments; 
The heart of woman hails each worthy cause; 

And Miriam's canto moved the continents! 
For in her deeds they feel has been displayed 

Both heavenhj art and hope, as well as Jiuman : 
And even prosy men have proudly paid 

Pure words of praise to this one pious woman. 
The Prophetess that sang her people free. 
And leapt for joy at sight of Liberty ! 



WOMEN OP THE BIBLE. 13 

THE INSPIRED HELPERS ON THE 1/ORD'S HOUSE. 

[And all tlie congregration of Israel brought offerings to the 
work on the tabernacle of the Lord's liouse and its service. 
They came, both men and women, as many as were willing- 
heartetl, and brought bracelets, ear-rings, tablets and blue and 
purple and scarlet and fine linen, which the women, wliom the 
Lord filled with wisdom for the work, did spin.]— Exodus 
xxxv:25; Isaiah lxiv:ll. 

The thousand spindles in a mill, 

At Lawrence, Lovvell or at Dover, 
Have so supplanted human skill, 

The days of "spinning ivheels''^ are over; 
And yet those glorious deeds of old, 

When for God's tabernacle met 
The M'ise ones, with their gifts of gold 

And works of love, all linger yet. 

Those earnest helpers in that ancient age. 

Who gave their gifts of gold, good will and time, 
Stand, like a steel engraving, on the page 

Of Holy Writ, from Israel's early prime; 
And every reader of the record sees 

Their shapely forms in fitting light and shade, 
In a plain picture, full of power to please; 

So, their example serves as ceaseless aid! 

And quite as worthy, in God's quickening will. 

Are portraits of those persons, pure and fair, 
Who help adorn his holy temples still, 

His tabernacles clothe with tender care; 
Nor are the heavenly host all unaware 

Of such as lend unto the Lord they serve. 
And for his church, his chosen house, prepare 

Such proper service as his saints preserve. 

How heavenly angels hailed the hallowed hour. 

When women with their costly spices went 
T' embalm the body of their Lord, whose power 

Preserved his flesh beyond their fond intent! 
Still holy ones seem hovering to approve 

The part of those who would perfect the place. 
Where sinners seek the Savior whom they love, 

And in love's service see his living face 
And presence, their misgivings to remove; 
Bringing both love and beauty from above. 



14: ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE FAITH OF RAHAB, THE REFORMED HARLOT. 

[And Joshua sent two spies to Jerico, who went to a harlot's 
house, named Rahab (who became wife of Sahnon and ances- 
tress of the Savior), and she said: Your Lord is God of heaven 
and earth. Swear by liim that you will save alive my father 
and mother, brothers and sisters. And they were saved. So 
hy faith the harlot Rahab perished not, but was justified by 
icorks, when she received the spies in peace and sent them safe 
away.]— Joshua ii:l-24-, Matthews i:5; Hebrews xi:31; James ii:25. 

As Joshua's wisdom would begin 

With faith that went before his face; 
Just so, kind Rahab saved her kin 

And calls to view a valiant case 
Of the wise courage that would bless, 

As her real friends, a foreign race, 
And gives a sample of success 

And of God's saving love and grace, 
As our own Savior's ancestress. 

Though but a harlot hostess, one or both. 

In such an ancient city sunk in shame — 
Her chaste demeanor here, and cherished oath, 

Are charming, noble, and make choice her name. 
Her filial solace and her sister love. 

Her faith in God, as governor of earth 
And heaven, proclaim her hope on high, and prove 

Her better nature is of heavenly birth. 

Her skill in managing their cause so well. 

Her "flax" that hid the spies as if they're fled; 
Her safety, when her fated city fell; 

Her double honor where the Bible's read; 
Her later married and maternal life. 

Before so filial, both so full of faith. 
Show God this woman made a good house-wife, 

Twice spoken such in what his Spirit saith: 

"By ''Faith,'' by '■Works — by both — was Rahab saved, 

So to regard the sovereignty of God 
That His free grace might be henceforth engraved 

On all repentant 'neath His well-aimed rod. 
Her special portions in th' inspired page 

Will shine yet purer, as it shall appear 
She warns forever each unfilial age. 

Comforts those crushed with shame and cruel fear, 
Points treacherous harlots, even, her path to heaven, 
In the dread straits to which her sex is driven. 
And shows what Magdalens should be forgiven. 



WOMEN OP THE BIBLE. 15 

JUDGE JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER— THEIR JOY AND DEEP DISTRESS. 

[And Jephthah judged Israel six years, and he vowed: If 
God will deliver tlie Ammonites into my hands, then whatso- 
ever Cometh forth to meet me when I return in peace, I will 
offer for a burnt offering. So when he came home his only 
daughter met liim with timbrels and dances. When he saw her 
he said: Alas! my child, thou hast brought me very low!] — 
Judges xi-xii. 

The touching tales, told old and young, 

About Judge Jephthah's only child, 
Whose fate the father's spirit wrung, 

And hushed her hastening timbrels wild; 
How many pages have they filled; 

What heart-sick poets have them sung; 
What throngs of piteous passions thrilled; 

What distressed nerves, indeed, unstrung! 

When Jephthah, to Jehovah's favor gain, 

Made oath to offer in burnt sacrifice 
His only daughter, if their foes were slain 

And she should be the first before his eyes, 
As he, a conqueror, comes home again, 

We see his want of wisdom — a sore want! — 
And wonder why his child would not complain. 

But heirless, mourn in some secluded haunt. 

We wonder at his vow, so rashly made; 

We marvel at the motives in each act; 
We query more whether the quiet maid, 

Were "a burnt sacrifice" in very fact ; 
And while we ask, re-ask, the why and hoiv, 

We so admire the damsel's word, who said: 
"My father, verify thy faithful vow. 

Though it indeed lead w^e among the dead!" 

Such clear convictions of the claims of God, 

Such sanctity she saw in such an oath. 
That she accepted the afflictive rod. 

And gave herself submissively to both. 
Before her father's bond her faith did bow! 

No martyr ever showed more native power 
Than this young virgin, yielding to that vow; 

Nor was e'er grief more sore in such glad hour! 
For who hath since, or ever, suffered so? 
Judge Jephthah's words are just the gist of woe: 
^^Alas, my child, thou hast brought me very low !" 



16 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

JUDGE DEBORAH, THE SEERESS, AND HER DIVINE SONG. 

[And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, also 
judged Israel, and she bade Barak draw nierli to Mount Tabor 
with 10,000 men. And God discorafeited Sisera before them. 
Then sang Deborah: Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of 
his people. The villages ceased till I arose a mother in Israel. 
Awake ! Awake ! Lead thy captivity captive, thou son of 
Ahinoam !]— Judges iv-v. 

True merit shows its moral power, 

In all the greatness of its strength, 
When, rising equal to the hour, 

It comprehends the breadth and length 
Of crisis issues in advance, 

And calls up forces adequate. 
With helmet, shield, breast-plate and lance, 

To save the soul and save the state. 

And such had ''Deborah, the prophetess, 

And judge of Israel," in that great day. 
When but for her, and Heaven her word to bless, 

The Hebrew Commonwealth had passed away. 
A moral conquest's in her martial call; 

An eloquence still lauded in all lands: 
''Up, Barak, up! On the Philistines fall! 

This day, God leads thy way; and in thy hands 
The Jtosts of Sisera by night shall be! — 

Then down Mount Tabor, side by side, they rode 
To battle and unbounded victory. 

In the dread names of Deborah and God! 
And then she sang Time's best triumphal song, 

Impromptued over Esdraelon's plains. 
Till Angels joined the grand orchestral throng, 

And over all '■'Jehovah Jereh'' reigns. 

The martial Maid of Orleans has the mark 

Of blood upon her tablets of renown; 
For on the statue of Joan of Arc* 

The maiden's sword supports the monarch's crown; 
But Deborah, with neither shield nor sword. 

Inspired their chieftain, and, in their distress, 
To Israel's hamlets life and peace restored, 

And, as the Mother, did their homes all bless, 
While her delivered land adored her Lord, 
And called her '■'•Deborah,^ his conquering Word.''"' 

* Anglicise "Joan," etc.; Deborah means "word." 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 17 

THE MOTHER OF SISERA, AlTD JAEL, THE KENITE. 

[And Deborah sang: Blessed above women be Jael, the wife 
of Heber the Kenite. She smote Sisera in her tent through his 
temples, and he fell dead at her feet. Lord, so let all thine 
enemies perish. But the Mother of Sisera looked out at a win- 
dow and cried through the lattice: Why tarry the wheels of 
his chariot? He waitetli to divide the spoil and the captive 
damsels with their choicest needlework.]— Judges iv:17; v:24. 

How Deborah had won the day 

And sang her triumphal subhme, 
Will never pass from earth away; 

Her deeds are heralded by Time! 
How Jael slew the general 

Of Israel's relentless foe, 
Doth not demand approval all. 

Nor should her "blessing" teach us so. 

How Sisera's Mother sees his captive slaves, 

Bespeaks divisions of abundant spoil, 
And counts the slaves her cruel nature craves, 

Will still compel the Christian hearts recoil. 
And how that cruel Mother's hope doth cry 

And for her victor (?) son so vainly call, 
For damsel captives, robes of tyrian dye, 

Seems leaping still from Sisera's lattice wall. 

How tender women, in the time of war. 

May suffer more than soldiers in the field, 
Is easy here to be accounted for; 

Heart wounds have been the worst ones to be healed. 
Yet women yearning for the welcome year 

When peace shall thrive and piety shall live. 
May tent full near the fight, nor shed a tear, 

But first and last the grandest impulse give. 

So Kenite Jael, of kind Jethro's kin, 

Was tenting near that sanguine battle scene; 
She wished Jehovah's warriors there to win; 

But was besought in words both false and mean 
By the commander of their cruel foes. 

The lecherous scoundrel with a lie to screen. 
Her woman's tent was sacred, the world knows; 

But o'er the coward the brave Kenite bent. 
And pierced his stupid brain with sturdy blows; 

Soon to his wicked, waiting mother sent 
A world of wisdom and a world of woes!— 
We shudder at the life that ''lattice" fiction shoics! 



18 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

JUDGE SAMSON'S MOTHER SYMBOLS AND FOEESEES MESSIAH. 

[And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of God, and he 
delivered them unto the Philistines. But the Angel of the 
Lord appeared unto the wife of Manoah, and said: Thou shalt 
bear a son, and he shall deliver Israel. And she called her 
child Samson— son of Righteousness— and he judged Israel 
twenty years.]- Judges xiii:2; xv:20. 

A living purpose of the Lord 

Is that a nation, for known sin, 
Shall reap forth -with its fit reward — 

With vice adversities begin. 
So, idols found in Israel 

Waked fellowship with Philistines, 
And guardian wisdom of God's will 

Gave serious warnings 'gainst such sins. 

Yet in those days of disobedience and 

Distress in Israel, for long, dark years, 
Because idolaters invade their land. 

The sore forebodings and incessant fears 
Made men and women look for some relief; 

With falt'ring hopes and fears and sighs and tears. 
They built on God again their good belief. 

And sought those guests wherein Ms grace appears. 

While in this mood, Manoah's wife one day — 

A worthy daughter of the wily Dan — 
When sore oppressed, sought out some place to pray. 

Where faith's Messiah, in the form of man, 
Appeared, and claimed her people's cause his care, 

Promised her progeny — then past her prime — 
And, through the medium of modest prayer. 

Told her puissant son's appointed time. 

In proof most kind, the Prince Iramanuel came 

Again, in proffer to her husband's prayer; 
And, though withholding his most hallowed namey 

He showed his essence by ascension there! 
Then both fell prostrate — bowed upon their face; 

The Danite father fell, as dead, with fear; 
The plucky woman rose with pleasing grace; 

The 2womised Savior! did that sight appear: 
Sphinx-like, did Samson soon adorn his sphere, 
For twenty years Philistia filled with fear. 
And Israel cherished with astounding cheer! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 19 

THE BEAUTIFUL, NAOMI AND THE MOABITES' RUTH. 

[Elimelech, of Bethlehem, went in famine, with Naomi his 
wife and their two sons, to Moab. There the sons married, but 
soon the men died, leaving three widows, Naomi, Orpah and 
Ruth. Then Naomi rose to depart to her own land, and Orpah 
kissed her good-by, but Ruth said : Whither thou goest I will 
go; thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God. So 
they went together to Bethlehem, where Ruth married Boaz 
and became an ancestor of our Lord.]— Ruth i:16; iv:22; Matth- 
ews i:5; Luke iii:32. 

Near where Jesus came to save 

With the Angels hov'ring there; 
Near where David, young and brave, 

Slew the lion and the bear; 
God, before, a famine gave. 

And a farmer, full of care. 
Went where welcoa-e harvests wave 

To sustain his household there. 

He went to Moab's high, well-molded hills. 

Where sleeps in beauly many a balmy spot; 
And dew, like Hermon's, on the heights distills — 

There he united with the heirs of Lot; 
For his two sons here wedded and took wives 

Of Moab's daughters, modest, dear and fair — 
Soon the three husbands lost their useful lives; 

And three sad widows in one scene were there! 

Then did Naomi — lovely* mother-in-law — 

Charge her fair daughters once for all to choose 
Their land of Moab, or her Lord with awe! 

Orpah kissed her farewell, and did refuse 
The God of Israel, his grace and truth; 

But words of special worth the other spake: 
^' Thy people and thy God,'' responded Ruth, 

"7 ivill for mine henceforth forever take r 

The fair young widow thence— in faithful weeds — 

Is led a princess to the Promised Land; 
Her daily life she fills with filial deeds, 

And soon in David's ancestry doth stand; 
The child of Moab there doth charm and shine, 

And adds her bright'ning fame to Boaz' name, 
Who led with her the "Son of David's" line 

Through Obed, Jessee, born in Bethlehem; 
All Christian annals in her name combine — 
Mother of Mary and her Son Divine ! 

* Naomi means "amiable," and Ruth "satisfied." 



20 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

HANNAH, THE NOTABLE MOTHER IN HER NATION'S EMERGENCY. 

[One Elkanah had a wife named Hannah (Gracious), and 
she bore him a son and called his name Samuel (Asked of God), 
for she said: For this child I prayed, therefore have I lent him 
to the Lord. And Samuel grew and God was with him, and he 
judged Israel long and well. ]— I Samuel i-viii. 

The holiest lot m human life, 

Where sinless angels seem to stand, 
Is when and where the pious wife, 

Devoted to God's first command, (Genesis 1:28) 
In potent earnestness of i^rayer. 

Asks Him for pure Maternal power. 
With bond to give him back her heir, 

And feels His favor bless the hour. 

When such desires, so serious, so divine. 

Have pleasure in the home's most holy place, 
And parent hearts in pious hope combine, 

And God doth give to them new souls with grace, 
There morning incense is most sure to rise (i:i9) 

In thrilling gratitude unto God's throne, 
And faithful offspring shall come forth so wise 

That all the good their godly vame^'' shall own. 

So blessed was Hannah, when she blessed the state; 

Preserved the Hebrew nation by her prayer; 
Lent to the Lord her son before too late. 

And symbolized earth's benign Savior there. 
Her hymn of praise proves her a heroine 

Inspired, revealing reverential spirit; 
And diving into depths and heights divine, 

Her muse hath more than merely liuman merit. 

How oft hath Christendom its crisis hours! 

Then, valiant women with their virtues stand, 
And plead in prayer for such maternal powers 

As "lent" Judge Samuel to the Jewish land. 
All life is sacred! and its lawful sources 

Are ne'er ignored, abused, except by crime. 
And deadly lusts that lead to such divorces. 

As have disgraced too much our modern time. 
The Heavenly King helps keep his kind commands, 
And puts earth's hopes in pure maternal hands! 

* Hannah means "Gracious;" Samuel, "Asked of God." 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 21 

THE WOMEN WHO SANG OF DAVID AND SAUL. 

[When the soldiers returned from David's slaughter of the 
Philistine, the women came out of the cities to meet them 
with joy and music, and as they played they sang: Saul hath 
slain his thousands and David his ten thousands ! And Saul 
said: What more can he have but the kingdom? So he hated 
David henceforth and feared him, for God was with him.]— 
Samuel xviii:6-12. 

There are important eras when 

Events cast shadows on before, 
And hope within the heart of men 

The future sees in scenes of yore; 
When sons of rank and sire that rules 

Have lost their hold on human hearts, 
And "lust for power" pants like poor mules 

Before their overloaded carts. 

Obsequious adulation of the great 

Is so instinctive wiih a craven class. 
That we are now more willing to narrate 

Th' apparent disrespect that came to pass 
In a procession given in praise of Saul: 

The country people saw their king displeased 
The Lord; and seer-like women, first of all, 

Were with full sense of public safety seized! 

The king forboded of his coming fate, 

And, fierce as Balak, felt himself accursed, 
And toward his women waxed in haste irate, 

Whose formal greeting gave his champion first 
Applause, who slew "ten thousand" foes in one. 

And saved the nation such a loss of life. 
That still survived each mother's stalwart son 

And still un widowed was each soldier's wife. 

Ijo, see that long procession, loud with praise! — 

The soldiers' wives and sweethearts, wise and fair, 
Their grateful rounds of happy greeting raise. 

Till sweetest music sways the mountain air: 
"Saul oft good fortunes gained on sanguine fields; 

His foes by thousands fell about his feet; 
Yet David's valor ten- fold victory yields! 

The King and Champion's praise let all repeat; 
Jehovah's justice shines upon their shields. 
And Heavenly Wisdom the world's sceptre wields!" 



22 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

MICHAL, SAUL'S DAUGHTER, SAVING DAVID FROM DEATH. 

[So Saul sent messengers to David's house to take him, but 
Michal, his wife, the king's daughter, let David down through 
a window, and said to them: He is sick! The king then sent 
soldiers to bring him in his bed, but she sent to Saul — he said: 
Let me go; why should I kill thee? And Saul gave her to 
Phaltiel, one of his generals.]— I Samuel xix-xxv; II Samuel 
iii:14; vii:16. 

Doubtless were ways devised by wives, 

To rescue husbands from arrest, 
Especially, to spare their lives, 

Well weighed, they would not all seem best; 
Yet Virtue's Charity still veils 

Even "striking faults" in vicious straits — 
As when Saul's ire his sons assails. 

And Michal twice prevaricates. 

It was when Saul, with hatred so inhuman, 

Desired his own deliverer to slaughter, 
And Jonathan's pure love passed that of woman, 

Her duty, as wife, sister, and king's daughter. 
Mingled such princely and supreme emotions 

As few women could feel in so full measure. 
That she, with well-determined wife-devotions, 

Kept David safe from the king's sore displeasure. 

She shared indeed her husband's chivalry. 

And for him, with her faithful life in hand, 
Dared to resist her sovereign sire's decree, 

And met and baffled even his arm-ed band! 
But when her liege was driven to long exile. 

And Saul breathed slaughter even against the bride. 
That she should consort with Sheik Phaltiel, 

Shows an imperfect* heart we fain would hide. 

Condone devices to deceive a king; 

Pardon despising of nude David's part 
When dancing near God's shrine, yet deign to sing: 

"She loved her husband with a valiant heart!" 
'Twas surely brave to shield her husband's life, 

When sought for by her sire and sovereign, Saul; 
'Twere braver to have shielded, as his wife, 

Her husband's honor, though the heavens fall, 
And fall herself, unsullied in the strife— 
'Twere easier this to say, than with wise skill obey! 

* Michal means perfect. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 23 

ABIGAIL, THE "WISE AND BEAUTIFUL" WIFE AND WIDOW. 

[And David sent ten j-oung men to say to the servants of 
Nabal: Peace be to thy master and all his. We have shielded 
thy shepherds; so give of thine abundance for the comfort of 
thy son David. And Nabal said: Who is David ! Tlien Abigail, 
ids wife, a woman wise and beautiful, hasted and said to David: 
Upon me let Nabal's iniquity be; but when the Lord hath dealt 
well with thee, then remember thine handmaid. So, after 
Nabal died, she married David.] — I Samuel xxv:2-24. 

Behold that hurrying incensed host 

Of God's anointed fugitive, 
When hasting to rebuke the boast 

Of one "too brutish even to live!" 
Mark the pause in the procession, 

Before "a woman wise and fair," 
Who, through her eloquent confession, 

Saved property and life by prayer. 

When Abigail alights at David's feet. 

His legions halt; their arms to earth are bent, 
And eyes to eyes in admiration meet, 

As she propitiates his stern intent, 
And, with prophetic, patriotic speech, 

Reveals the one divinely sanctioned path, 
By which he may true regal greatness reach. 

Avoiding rashness and Jehovah's wrath. 

When cultured woman comes thus with her charms^ 

And stands with balm for wounds and prayers for 
peace. 
Before the march of angry men in arms. 

Their wrath severe is pretty sure to cease; 
Their Chieftain — cherishing his love concealed 

For absent bride or sweetheart — stands at bay. 
And through their ranks a thrill of joy's revealed: 

So, warriors wait, and woman wins the day! 

When armies on the move for fierce att-^.ck. 

So halt in silence to be so addressed, 
And then with grand good will and thanks turn back: 

There is true eloquence by all confessed; 
And when the Chief, "in every inch a king," 

Protects the woman and then takes to wife 
"The rich young widow," we rejoice to sing: 

Heaven bless such happy means of healing strife; 
And let the realm with real laudation ring 
Till the bright Father' s-joy"^ abundant fruitage bring! 

* Abigail means ^'the father's joy. ^^ 



24 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE WISE WOMAN OF TEKOAH, AND HER MISERABLE MISTAKE. 

rWhen Joab saw that David's heart was toward Absalom, lie 
called a wise woman from Tekoah, wlu> sj^oke to the king as if 
her son had been killed by his brother and tiiey soiiglit also to 
take away his life. And when David assured her that her son 
should be saved, she then said: Thyself art at fault for not 
fetching home thy banished son, who slew his brother ! The 
king therefore said to Joab: (io, bring Absalom again.]— 
II Samuel xiv-xix. 

The quick perception of her part, 

In mediation for a man, 
Who harbored treason in his heart. 

Below where human skill could scan, 
And then the will to do and dare 

Before the king upon his throne. 
And for his exiled son and heir 

By feigned sorrow to atone — 

This was the ivisdom of the woman sought 

By David's Captain, who desired the King 
To have the bloody fratricide now brought 

To favor. She did so the business bring 
Before the throne, that David scarcely dared 

Decline; for he discerned the leading mind 
Was the proud Joab, who, by her, prepared 

The way for kingly justice to be kind! 

See "the Wise Woman of Tekoah" test 

The sovereign's wishes toward his wayward son. 
With bearing that performs her part the best, 

Though 'twas a difficult and dangerous one! 
Hear her sad fiction! 'Tis set forth so well. 

She wins the object that she would obtain. 
As of the mover she at last must tell — 

Now Absalom comes near the king again! 

But her "zrise" (?) mission proved the worst mistake; 

For Absalom would thereby worse rebel; 
And moral reas'ners, now, like errors make 

By holding none be banished, even in hell! 
So David over his dead infant said: 

"I soon shall go to heaven where he is gone;" 
But wept o'er Absalom, his wicked dead: 

"Would God I'd died for thee, O Absalom, my son!" 
Alas! Ins crimes forever crown his head, 
Where'er his rebel name is heard or read; 
'Twas to such woe th' <r»wise Tekoan led! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 25 

THE WISE WOMAN OF ABEL,. 

[And a man of Belial, named Slieba, blew a trumpet and 
said: Every man to his tent ! We have no part in David ! Then 
they besieged him in the city of Abel, and there cried a ivise 
woman from the wall unto ,Joab: It used to be said, they shall 
ask counsel at Abel, and so they ended the matter. Thou seek- 
est to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Then she sent 
Sheba's head to Joab, and saved both herself and city.]— 
II Samuel xx:l-22. 

Far in the north is famous Abel, 

That sheltered Sheba with its wall, 
Whence a ^^tcise ivoman,^^ versed in fable, 

Did loudly from the ramparts call; 
With voice that almost reaches Moab, 

She shouted from the ramparts tall: 
"Hear me for justice, mighty Joab; 

I counsel peace, for good of all!'' 

This town of Abel had been noted long 

For prudent, faithful people, fond of peace, 
Till the wise city was told oft in song — 

As one where wars were surely wont to cease. 
There Sheba fled, a churlish, shameless chief. 

Who spurned the standing army of the state; 
With neither breeding, wisdom, nor belief; 

And well fenced in he waited thus his fate. 

Around stood Israel, in stern array; 

Their trenches compassed the entire town; 
Their battering rams were rushing into play 

To beat to dust the well-built ramparts down. 
Just at this juncture, the judicious cry 

Of that ivise woman met the maddening wave, 
Commanding Joab to come kindly nigh. 

And seek for counsel and the country save. 

As if of statesmanship a student, 

She makes her diplomatic well-meant plea, 
With an apt proverb, apropos and prudent; 

And then, with Sheba's head she wins the day; 
For, hark! the trump of holy j^ec/ce is pealing! 

Behold! the trenches are left lone and bare; 
Aye! this apt woman, wise in arts of healing. 

Hath by her iviscloni hushed at once the war; 
The knave she gave much life and love to save. 
Long let such brave, "Wise Women's" banner wave! 



26 ECHOES t)F INSPIRED AGES. 

BATH SHEBA, "A WISE MOTHER" OF "THE WISE MAN." 

[Nathan said to Bath Sheba: Hast thou not heard that 
Adonijah doth reign, and Kinr. David knoweth it not ! And she 
went in unto the king, and David said: As my Redeemer liveth, 
Solomon, thy son, shall be king in my stead. So she said: O 
Lemuel, son of my vows, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor 
give thy strength unto women, but open thy moutli for the 
dumb and plead the cause of the poor.]— I Kings i:ll-13; Prov- 
erbs v-vii-xxxi. 

If we receive the Rabbi's word, 

That Lemuel is Solomon,'^ 
The wisest mother ever heard 

Addressed both names, as if but one, 
Such words of wisdom as will live 

Like loving angels in all lands, 
Declaring: '■'■Though God doth forgive^ 

Still Virtue, the real victor, stands T 

This chastened mother, of King David's choice, 

Who sang with him his penitential psalm, (51) 
Speaks thus with special and inspired voice, 

That breathes on all the earth a healthy balm. 
Of Christ a mother — through King Solomon, 

Whom she declares her "son of solemn vow" — 
She sends the message to eacK mother's son. 

To aid his noblest nature, even now. 

Her thoughts that thrill and yearn in words that burn 

And warn all sons against the ways of sin, (Prov. 7.) 
Are laws of life which none too early learn, 

Or their obedience too soon begin. 
Her perfect picture of the perfect wife, (Proverbs 31.) 

The wisest earth has seen or e'er will see, 
She sends each leniuel,^ to cheer his life, 

And teach the world what a true wife should be. 

It's not yet in the power of human speech 

Pictures more chaste and charming e'er to paint, 
Than those her words of tender warning teach. 

To shun lewd sinners and to live a saint. (Prov.v-viii.) 
Such, hath Bath Sheba in earth's history been; 

Her pioub penitence seems unsurpassed; 
Her power to influence high public men 

Did not desert her, even, to the last; 
She would the wise from shame and folly keep; 
And if they fall, "would fain like Peter weep!" 

* Solomon means "Prince of Peace," Lemuel "God with 
him," and Bath Sheba "the seventh daughter"— not of Sheba. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 27 

EIZPAH'S devoted patience, watching her DE.VD. 

[The Gebeanites demanded of David seven descendants of 
Saul, for having destroyed once their city. So he gave them 
two sons of Rizpah by Saul and five sons of Merab, Saul's 
daughter, and they crucified them on a hill before the Lord. 
And Rizpah spread sackcloth for her on a rock, and watched 
them there from tlie beginning of harvest till water dropped on 
them out of heaven.] — Samuel xxi:4-14. 

The silent "Concubine of Saul" 

Sat desolate beside her dead, 
From the first fruits till the rain-fall 

Had Autumn o'er the hill-tops spread, 
Nor birds nor beast could bear away; 

Or tear the flesh of corpses there; 
For weeks, for months, by night, by day. 

She kept them in her constant care. 

Such patient sorrow never was surpassed; 

It fixed forever on the scroll of fame 
The legend of her love that e'er doth last 

In noblest rainbows around Rizpah's name. 
To our Centennials this scene imparts 

Such paintings matchless as all pity move; 
So her example impels highest arts 

And lives immortal, like maternal love. 

Even when 'twas brought the king her patience brave, 

He took her crucified with tender care. 
Garnered them up in Saul's ancestral grave. 

And their fond ashes housed forever there. 
Her love, as mother, aunt and sister true. 

Hath much out-matched the malign hate of men; 
For Rizpah felt for Mercdfs offspring too, 

With heart as burdened as e'er yet hath been. 

Once a brave sister* crossed the briny sea 

To aid her brother, brought to utter w^oe; 
She held him from the hempen halter free 

Till judge and jury joined to let him go. 
There was a mother sought her miscreant son; 

She sat down with him in his dungeon cell. 
And near his gallows till its work was done; 

Then the old widow saw hiai buried well, 
And lived in silent sadness all alone. 
Her patient nature to few persons known! 

■' Mrs. Powers, of London, saved her brother Stickney in 
Denver, and the widow asked the son's gallows be given her. 



28 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

JEROBOAM SENDS HIS QUEEN TO SEER AHIJ.AH FOR HIS SON. 

[Abijah,* the devout son of Jeroboam, fell sick, and the king^ 
said to Ano, his Egyptian queen: Arise, I pray thee, disguise 
thyself, and get thee to Shiloh. There is the Propliet Ahijah 
that told me I should be king; he will tell thee what shall be- 
come of the ciiild. Now Ano was sister of the queens of Moab 
and Egypt, all idolaters.]— I Kings xiv:l-ll. 

Transgressors' ways are truly hard; 

Quite soon the semipagan crown 
Is called to pay concealed regard 

To his first prophet's last renown. 
The king forebodes their fearful loss, 

Before the stroke they sorely dread 
Conveys their Christly* boy across 

The border land among the dead. 

Mark what emotion moves the strong man's frame; 

As on his house he sees Jehovah's hand! 
He wants Ahijah's help — without his name 

Made known. He scarcely dares his queen command, 
Implores her, though a pagan — "Pray make haste; 

Find Seer Ahjiah!— he said I'd be king — 
He lives in Shiloh— is God's prophet — waste 

No time; but from him speedy tidings bring! 

Let him not know the child's true name, nor mine; 

Take some fresh presents from a prudent man 
In deep distress — fetch his response divine; 

He sees our future as no other can!" — 
So Ano, sister of Tahpenes, went 

With bowed head, and with a bursting heart, 
The w^ay she was with anxious warning sent; 

But mystic power had torn her mask apart! 

The kind old prophet's prescience saw the case; 

He calls her "Ano, wife of Israel's king," 
Before she sees his bearded, sacred face; 

Then says: 'Tis evil tidings that I bring. 
From Israel's God, to thee and thine to-day! 

Thy guilty husband hates the God of heaven! 
Thy pious son, Abijah, '11 pass away! 

To him alone shall burial be given! 
Thy son shall die to-day! So do not stay! — 
Jehovah's judgment enjoins no delay! 

* Abijah is "God's boy," and Ahijah "God's friend." 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 29 

SO ANO COMES MOURNING TO TIRZAH TO-DAY. 

[And the prophet bade the queen, Go say to Jeroboam: Thus 
saith the God of Israel, because thou hast done worse than all 
that were before thee, thy son shall die, and all thy descendants 
perish. And when she came to Tirzah their child died, and all 
Israel mourned for him according to the word of the Lord, by 
his prophet in Shiloh.]— I Kings xiv:17-18. 

In Tirzah there's mourning to-day; 

Queen Ano is coming in grief — 
Presuming not even to pray — 

Her religion can give no relief; 
But heavily harassed in heart, 

She sobs the dark sovereign decree 
That says: Thy sick son shall depart; 

Thy husband left houseless shall be! 

From Shiloh to Tirzah, those beautiful towns, 

The princess and pagan pursues her sad vi^ay; 
She passes her peasants in peasantry gowns. 

With dust on her head and her heart in dismay; 
And just as she enters her palace of state, 

Still in disguises, her dear son is dead; 
Her husband, in poignant distress, is prostrate 

Upon the chill pavement beside the child's bed — 

Whereon dead Abijah, their beautiful boy, . 

Lies ghastly and ghostless, this instant deceased; 
All cheerless and childless their palace of joy, 

Whose only pure spirit has just been released! 
Soon weeping and w^ailing in Tirzah resound; 

And over the mountains and valleys, with speed, 
Dispatches run forth to the regions around. 

And elders and chieftains, with cherishing heed. 

Come burdened to Tirzah, that "beautif al* town," 

With griefs, and rare gifts, there to garnish the 
grave 
Of the son of Queen Ano, lost heir to the crown. 

Whom the gods, like gold calves, all combined 
could not save. 
The wiles of the wicked thus wof uUy foiled. 

All hasten in sorrow to Ahijah, the seer, 
But with consciences seared and characters soiled. 

In their treason and fear they refuse still to hear; 
While with sorrow distress'd and expectance despoiled. 
Both the queen and the king from their future recoiled ! 

* Canticles (Solomon's Songs) vi:4— "As beautiful as Tirzah 1" 



30 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE GREAT WOMAN OF SHUNEM IN GRIEF FOR HER SON. 

[And Elisha passed through Shunem, where was a great 
teomcn I, who said: I perceive this is a man of God; let us make 
him a little chamber on the wall. And when her child died, she 
hasted to the propliet at Carmel, and he asked: Is it well with 
thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? 
And she said: It is well ! And God gave back her son to life, in 
answer to the prophet's prayer.] — II Kings iv:8-35; Matthew 
xix :14. 

The legend of one Rabbi Meir 

Tells how his wise and loving spouse, 
In silent grief, saw him draw near, 

At eventide, his stricken house; 
Her treasures had been taken back 

By him who loaned them her in love; 
She keenly felt at lirst her lack 

The owner's order to approve. 

So when the Rabbi reached that day his dwelling, 

She told him how her "Jewels" were exacted, 
And of her choice to keep; he chid the telling — 

Then, shown his dead, his words were not retracted. 
For her two Jewels were their own twin youths; 

Their Maker to the loving Mother loaned them; 
Herr Meir had taught them his immortal truths. 

And now he gave them back to God who owned 
them. 

The Shunemitess, "great'' in hospitality, 

Rewarded with an only son, like Hannah, 
Felt smitten by some strange fatality; 

For her dead chi'd seemed "an excess of manna," 
Her heirless house, twice heeded by her Maker, 

Twice blessed indeed with what she most desired, 
Of pious motherhood to be partaker. 

Was full of pain when her fond son expired. 

Yet who, but she, could up Mount Carmel clamber, 

And say, " 'Tis well !" when such a grief sinks o'er us? 
She who prepared the "holy prophets's chamber," 

"Shunem's great woman," shines and grows before 
us; 
Her kindness to the passing Christ-like stranger, 

Her disregard for governmental favor, 
Her daring in the days of grief and danger, 

Hsr foresight of the Resurrection Savior, 
Her soul's good-nature, neither gay nor somber. 
Embalm more beauty than most beaming amber! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 31 

"A prophet's widow," with her sons, in want. 
[!there cried a widow of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, 
saying: My husband is dead, and thou knowest he did fear the 
Lord ; and a certain creditor is come to take my two sons for 
bondmen. And Elislia said: Go, borrow empty vessels not a 
few, and pour out of thine only pot of oil into them, and sell 
the oil, pay the debt, and live, thou and thy children of the rest. 
And she did as bidden, and saved her sons from bondage.]— 
II Kings iv:l-8. 

A preacher's widow left in debt, 

A prophet's widow, with the cold 
And cruel world to dun an fret 

Her spirit, prematurely old, 
With fears her sons would both be sold 
As bondmen to the highest bidder — 
This is the touching tale here told, 
Quite worth our care well to consider; 
For Agur prayed to be not rich, nor poor, (Prov. 30:8) 

Lest he be led from God or given to theft; 
And prophets did not beg from door to door, 

Nor steal, nor yet were rich; their wives were left 
Sometimes so poor, this instance will suffice: 

Scarce had this widow left her husband's grave 
With orphaned boys, and bleeding heart and eyes, 

Ere babe and first born, each, must be a slave. 
Just then the "bald" old prophet, pitying went 

In tender mercy to her miser* town, 
Elijah's threadbare mantle's round him bent — 

And mark ye well that man and much- worn gown! — 
For now this widow of his worthy friend, 

With bane for her and bondage for her boys, 
Doth at his feet in burdened pleading bend. 

And all her eloquence of woe employs. 
Mark too those orphans', and their mother's, trust, 

For, as he bade, they filled each borrowed can, 
And bought themselves from slavish bonds and lust — • 
Like miracles of Christ, the Son of Man. (Mark 6:41) 
Lo, mark ye more your Mediator's love; 

Though over Eden's walls the sword still waves, 
The poorest widow's wants his pity move. 

And he works miracles to rescue slaves — 
The Divine Prophet He doth daily prove; 
To find the Lord is to find life and love! 

* Miner, for miserable: so mean, indeed, the children mocked 
Elisha for his "bald head," and so wild that bears of the wood 
ate them up. 



32 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

"a little HEBREW MAIDEN" AND HER LEPROUS MASTER. 

[Now Naaman was a great man, but he was a leper; and the 
Syrians had taken captive a little Hebrew maiden, and slie said 
to Naaman's wife: Would God my Lord were with the prophet 
Elisha; he would heal his leprosy. So he went and stood before 
the door of the prophet, who bade him, Go wash seven times in 
Jordon. Then he went down and washed and was cleansed.] — 
II Kings v:l-15. 

By a soft spring in Syrian sands 

There blooms a flower so blithe and fair, 
It in ambrosial beauty stands, 

And breathes its life out on the air. 
When wandering o'er that desert land, 

If to that living fount we stray, 
And by that blooming beauty stand, 

We learn to wash our ills away. 

A little captive cheers her lord and queen; 

A prophet doth his healing power teach; 
A leprous prince, obeying, is made clean — 

Three "Acts;" an intense character for each. 
Scene flrst's where Pharpar and Abana glide; 

Scene second, near Samaria is laid; 
Scene third is by the typic Jordon 's tide; 

But best of all's that beauteous little maid, 

That charming Hebrew child, so chaste and brave; 

Sweet, darling rose-bud in that desert scene; 
That stolen exotic, stern Naaman's slave, 
nWho prays her leprous master may be clean! 
Her words, "Would God my master could be sent 

To Seer Elisha," moved their monarch's will; 
The captain with a courtly escort went, 

And proved full well the prophet's healing skill. 

Though mad at first — that faith affords the means 

In the mere symbol of the mighty seers — 
He soon on Jordon's banks enjoys new scenes; 

A cured man, he next at home appears; 
In this, the closing Act — climax comjjlete — 

He laudeth first the little maiden's fame. 
Where grateful maid and master fondly greet; 

And yet we hark in vain to hear her name! 
That maid, so fair, sits near her master's feet, 
In costume neat and countenance most sweet, 
But none can even now her name repeat! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 33 

jehoshabeath's saving the king's son from death. 

[And Jehoshabeath hid Joash, son of King Ahaziah, in the 
house of the Lord, even as David predicted: In the secret of 
his tabernacle shall he hide me. And after seven years her hus- 
band, Jehoiada the priest, took certain chief men into their 
counsels and led him forth to be crowned, and all the congrega- 
tion entered into covenant with Joash, the king.]— II Kings xi; 
II Chronicles xxii; Psalms xcvii:5. 

This woman kept her secret well, 

With courage equal to the case; 
For when foul strokes of treason fell 

Upon the regnant, pious race, 
And David's line seemed dead and lost, 

She seized and hid his son Joash, 
Careless of risk of life, or cost, 

And reared him safe through seasons rash. 

When a usurping queen supposed her throne 

Was undisputed now in every part, 
Jehoshabeath enjoyed .this boy alone; 

The holy priestess held him to her heart, 
And v/aited on the wisdom of God's will 

To seat this son of David, soon, secure 
Upon his sacred throne, symbolic still. 

Which was decreed "should as the sun endure." 

A breath of rumor would run wild abroad. 

And dash "the throne of David" into dust; 
Then, what a guardian is the house of God; 

And what a treasure's in that heart of trust! 
She, like the guardian angel of God's Son, 

Who bade him be awhile to Egypt borne. 
Demanded prudence, and yet promptly done, 

And every confidant to vigils sworn! 

We wonder at the wisdom of her way, 

As she regardeth each religious rite, 
Yet feeleth deeply fearful, every day. 

The living king may come too soon to light. 
At length the time arrived that he should reign — 

The heir, indeed, usurpers doomed to death 
And deemed him dead— 7ie's given life again 

By the judicious, bold Jehoshabeath; 
All praise be to the noble priestess' name; 
She saved the king through which the Savior came! 



34 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

ATHALIAH, THE MISGUIDING MOTHER AND USURPING MURDERESS. 

[And King Ahaziah did evil, because his Mother Athaliah, 
sister of Ahab, was his counsellor, to do wickedly. She also 
destroyed (as slie supposed) all the seed royal of the house of 
David and reigned in their stead— till Jehoiada anointed the 
hidden Joash and proclaimed him king. ] — II Chronicles 
xxii-xxiii. 

Queen Athaliah quenched in blood 

(As she believed) David's last heir, 
But hastes now to the house of God 

To see what can be doing there; 
For lo, a prince, by priestly hands, 

Just now is crowned as Judah's king; 
While in the temple still he stands 

''Long live the king /" loud voices ring. 

He hath arisen, indeed, as from the dead! 

For she commanded — and supposed — him slain; 
Then put his holy crown upon her head. 

And, red with blood, for six full years did reign. 
But now this secret heir to Judah's crown — 

Rescued from death by rare Jehoshabeath — 
Enters his reign of righteous, high renown, 

And the detested murd'ress meets her death. 



Her cry of "Treason! Treason!" trumpet toned. 

Rings wildly 'gainst God's royal temple walls; 
Its echo all her bloody treason owned. 

Which like fierce hurricanes now on her falls; 
She's plunged with horror from the holy place, 

Till "in the horse-gate" they cut oflf her head! 
Her wicked reign's a warning to her race! — 

Her bloody record's bleeding still when read ! 

Alas! the passion after power and rank! — 

It doth demoralize to death the mind; 
Let Athaliah's blighting lust be blank. 

Except to wake contempt in womankind! 
O let no Mother lust for might or fame, 

Nor her sons counsel to a course of sin; 
But leave a loyal, noble, loving name. 

That will their moral admiration win; 
Aye, join the band of blest Jehoshabeath, 
To save all youth from sinners and from death ! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 35 

WICKED JEZEBEL, THE HARLOT WIFE OF AHAB. 

[Thus saith the Son of God : 1 have somewhat against thee 
because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel to se(bice my ser- 
vants. There was none like Ahab who sold himself to wicked- 
ness, whom .Jezebel stirred up; and when Jehu was come to 
Jezreel they threw her down from her window, and her blood 
spattered the wall and the horses, and she was trodden under 
foot and eaten by dogs, till they found only her skull and feet 
and palms of her hands.]— Revelations ii; I Kings xxi:25; II 
Kings ix :30. 

One Jezebel — (would there's but one — 

Nefarious falsehood on the name!*) 
Seemed the worst woman 'neath the sun; 

Whose mfamy o'erwhelmed all fame; 
Whose zeal — of the Zidonians — 
Intensified her heathen faith, 
Till she decreed Time's dearest sons 
Should be despoiled and put to death. 

Her vile bravado even Ahab bribes 

To doom all pious patriots to die; 
Poor prophets, ev'n, her hateful pride proscribes 

And dares their Deity, himself, defy. 
She boasts the time the ''TishMte'\ she'll behead, 

Of whom she speaketh to her evil spouse; 
Her passion doteth o'er the pious dead. 

Whose holy blood she's brought on Ahab's house. 

She covets Naboth's vineyard for the king. 

And plans forthwith to confiscate the place; 
Naboth's death sentence she doth seek and bring, 

On grave false charges 'gainst his want of grace. 
Her nature panteth, like the nether pit; 

It boileth over with all base desire; 
And is, to hardened fiends, so wholly fit, 

That her fierce ire seems heated with hell-fire I 

Her wrath so oft doth rise — so fierce and hot- 
It pours its lava o'er the parched land. 

Till its wide space turns to one poisoned spot 
On which no healing aid can lay its hand! — 

Such is the haste of woman's sin to waste 
The fairest portions of this fallen world; 

And her forbidden fruit 'tis death to taste, 
And to be henceforth out of Eden hurled. 

This harlot chose the holy name of "C/irtsfe,"* 

Yet gave to dogs the body she debased! 

* Jezebel means ''Chaste.'''' 



36 ' ECHOES OP INSPIRED AGES. 

HULDAH, A PEOPHETESS HEROIC BEFORE PRINCES. 

[And the royal servant went to consult the Prophetess Hul- 
dah, in the College Hall; and she said: Thus saith the Lord, I 
will bring evO upon this place because they have forsaken me; 
but to King .Josiah, the son of David, say: Because thou 
hast humbled thyself before God, thou shalt be gathered to thy 
grave in peace, though tliis place shall be desolate and the peo- 
ple scattered.]— Leviticus xxvi:31-83; II Kings xxii:12-20. 

Heroic Huldah, in an age 

Of shocking godlessness and shame, 
Feared not to risk its fiercest rage, 

And tell who were, and why, to blame! 
She dared God's counsel to declare 

To wicked men and wicked states, 
Whether they hear her or forbear; 

And a whole nation on her waits. 

It's grand, in public or in private life. 

To see a person put all trust in Truth, 
And single-handed, conquer in the strife. 

It is yet nobler, if that be a youth, 
Or loyal ivomcm, learn-ed, wise and lone, . 

Who, in Jehovah's unseen, judging sight, 
So bids men their Almighty Maker own, 

That all confess in fact, her cause is right. 

This case was Huldah 's "in the College Hall," 

God-fearing, guileless, yet as great as good; 
When her king's princes there upon her call. 

The stern, grave oracle of God she stood 
Serene, alone, with loyalty we see 

In wisest teachings of the eternal Word, 
And told them, judgments on the Jews would be, 

Because they looked not for the coming Lord. 

With conquering valor and with virtues crowned, 

And pure Sotei^ial* prescience in her soul, 
Her college walls with Christly words resound; 

And in an hour she's got complete control 
Of king and cabinet and country swains; 

Their idol gods to dust are dashed around; 
The place remains, while good Josiah reigns. 

But soon was razed unto the wasted ground; 
The Jews w^ere carried captives thence in chains. 
But Huldah 's pure religion here remains! 

* Sotei- means Savior. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 37 

ESTHER THE QUEEN— WHENCE THE WISE MEN CAME. 

[And Ahasuerus (Xerxes), who reigned from India to Ethi- 
opia, made a feast to his princes, and when merry with wine, 
be bade his queen, Vashli, be brought, to show her beauty. On 
her refusah he ordered together all the fair virgins of his realm, 
that the one he liked best might be made queen. And the king 
loved Esther. She had neither father nor mother, and the maid 
was beautiful. When Jesus was born behold, there came wise 
men from the East to Jerusalem to worship him.]— Esther i; 
Numbers xxiv:17; Matthew ii. 

The grandeur of the gorgeous East; 

The splendor of the Persian court, 
The richness of the royal feast; 

The rigor of the last resort, 
When Vashti spurned the king's vain call; 

The hatred of the Hebrew race; 
The choice of Esther, queen; the fall 

Of Haman — how these crowd this case! 

No pen nor pencil can improve the scene, 

No "happy hit" by painter or by poet, 
When Vashti was by vote no longer queen. 

And edict ordered that all nations know it; 
And what a fever, like a world afire. 

Was caused by King Ahasuern's call. 
For all fair virgins in his vast empire, 

That he elect the fairest of them all! 

And when the king proclaimed his love and choice, 

And took an orphan Jewess to his throne, 
The Providence of God, with plainer voice, 

Pronounced this ancient people still his own. 
When cruel Haman's dire decree came due. 

And final slaughter all the Hebrews feared. 
Then Esther''s uncle, Mordecai, the Jew, 

A guardian of both church and state appeared. 

He said: "Think not to save thyself alone! 

Thy calling thou canst not with safety miss; 
For who can tell if thou hast reached the throne. 

For such a providential time as this?" 
And then it was Esther, the Persian queen, 

The orphan niece of Mordecai, the Jeic, 
Excelled all princesses the world hath seen. 

In all that's beautiful and brave and true, 
By inspiratio7i bold as e'er hath been. 
Whence rose the mission of the real ''Wise Men,''^ 
Who Esther's faith did use toward Jesus, King of 
Jews! 



38 ECHOES OP INSPIRED AGES.- 

ELIZABETH, THE MOTHER OF JESUs' FORERUNNER. 

[There was in the clays of Herod, a priest named Zacharias. 
And God said to him: Thy wife. Elizabetii, shall bear a son, 
and thou shalt call him John, and he shall be great in the sight 
of God and shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 
to make ready for him a people prepared for the Lord.]— Luke 
1:5-25. 

I know not why it is; to me 

Elizabeth* hath not the looks 
That artists have all seemed to see, 

And authors uttered in their books. 
She's elegant, in my eyes, grand; 

With holy face, dark, frosted hair, 
A stately woman she doth stand, 
Abia's priestess, Aaron's heir, 

The very picture of a valiant power. 

That in the purest virtue is self-poised. 
And rises equal to this rif^hteous hour. 

The news of which she knows is widely noised; 
So, with her modesty and wisest mood, 

She seeks a calm retreat to suit her case, 
For heaven's guidance and her offspring's good, 

That he may go before Messiah's face, 
Full of the Holy Ghost from her first motherhood. 

Most noble matron of that man's renown 

Who shook his nation to its utmost shores, 
Till from the mountains masses vast flow down. 

Through Jordon's pass a living journey pours. 
To hear his words and learn ways of the Just; 

The greatest man e'er then of woman borp, 
Whose truths led guilty men in God to trust, 

And from their wicked ways in faith to turn; 
Who forced licentious kings to fear their cursed lust. 

A sublime soul was Saint Elizabeth; 

(Aunt of Saint Mary, Mother of Messias,) 
Whose son's deep wisdom wins a martyr's death, 

As Christ's forerunner comes, like Saint Elias, 
To turn the heart of fathers to the young. 

Reclaim the wicked from their waywardness. 
By special teaching with inspired tongue. 

Even soldiers turn to valiant tenderness. 
For sake of Him that comes the world to bless; 
God loved Elizabeth; the good will do no less! 

* Elizabeth means "oath or fullness of God." 



WOMEN OP THE BIBLE. 39 

MARY, THE MESSIAH'S MOTHEE. 

[And the Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto the city of 
Nazareth, to a virgin of the house of David, and he said unto 
her: Fear not, .l/in//,* higlily favored, for thou shalt conceive 
and bring fortli a sou, and shalt call his name Jesus. Tlie Lord 
God sliall give him the throne of liis father David, and of his 
kingdom there shall be no end. And she said: Behold the hand- 
maid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word.] — 
Isaiah vii:U; Matthew i:22; ii:2: Lukei:26-50; Isaiah ix:6. 

The city Nazareth is seen 

Still nestling there among the hills, 
With children sporting on the green, 

And women grinding at the mills. 
There virgins, virtuous and fair, 

Graciously welcome still their guest. 
As if through "angels unaware" 

They might be still by Heaven blest. 

Once Gabriel — sent there from God's throne — 

When hovering pleased over the happy place. 
Thus hailed the Virgin Mary, when alone: 

'■''Fear not, Favored of God, and full of grace! 
For God's own Holy Ghost shall henceforth give 

Thee poicer to hear his oicn jniissant Son, 
Begot by God, named Jesus, '■sent to save,' 

And ever have thy father David's throne.^' 

That place, still pleasing to the passer-by, 

Was suited to such wondrous ministry; 
And Mary gave to God this meek reply: 

^'■Behold the handmaid of the Lord, and be 
It unto me as thou hast said fulfilled T 

And when in Bethlehem the babe she bore. 
The "Eastern Wisemen" worshipped there her child, 

And distant sages "David's Son" adore. 

Her presentation in the house of God; 

Her flight to Egypt by the Angel told. 
When Joseph, her "just" spouse, l3eside her trod; 

Her words to Jesus when but "twelve years old;" 
Her Cana order to "do what he said;" 

Her wish to greet him in th' assembled throng; 
Her presence at his cross — when he is dead — 

Reveal her fully, and affirm the song — 
^^MagnificatV—ti^v Worship 7nay be wrong; 
Since Jesus sets her all his saints among! 

Mary, if from Mara, means bitter.— Luke ii:35-54. 



40 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

ANNA, AN AGED SEERESS, OWNS THE INFANT SAVIOR. 

[And when they presented Jesns in the temple of the Lord» 
Anna, a prophetess and widow of great age, which worshipped 
God night and day, came into the sanctuary that instant, and, 
like aged Simeon, gave thanks and spoke of Jesus to all that 
looked for redemption in Israel.]— Luke ii -.22-39. 

Joseph and Mary, with her Son, 

Stand in the sacred temple now. 
And blessings from the Holy One 

Respond to their parental vow — 
A rite so sweet aught never cease; 

There aged Simeon sees his Lord, 
And says: "Now let me die in peace. 

According to thy covenant word." 

So A7ina, gracious* seeress of great age. 

Inspired to tell what ancient prophets mean. 
Lived in the temple, waiting to presage 

The Christ in this especial covenant scene. 
Her sire Phanuel* saw the Savior's /ace. 

And she most worthy, both as maid and wife. 
Had learned to trust the widow's God of grace. 

Since seven years of early wedded life. 

Her face deep furrowed, her thin frosted hair, 

Her neat prone figure, and her voice, accord 
With constancy in serving God by prayer 

And fasting, for the coming of the Lord — 
This faithful dame, whom seers had oft foretold. 

On whom God poured his gift of prophecy, 
A type of dispensations new and old — 

Like aged Simeon — longed her Lord to see. 

Our pleasure hightens, as this prophetess 

"Comes in that instant" with exceeding joy; 
And with inspired zeal makes haste to bless 

Th' adoring Mother and her Divine Boy. 
"She gave thanks likewise," and then of him spoke 

To all them in Jerusalem that seek 
For his redemption to break every yoke 

And preach glad tidings to the poor and meek; 
For by his breath shall every bond be broke; 
Even his death shall deathless life evoke; 
God give the Mother strength for the last stroke! 

* Phanuel and Peniel mean '^Face of the Lord;'' Anna and 
Hannah mean ^^ Favor of God.'' 



WOMEN OF THE BIBL,E. 4:1 

THE LEGEND OF AMBITION TO BEAR OUR LORD. 

[God said: The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's 
head. He saith not seeds, as of many, but seed as of one, which 
is Christ. And a certain woman listening to Jesus' words said: 
Blessed is the womb that bore ihee! But he said: Yea, rather 
say, Blessed are they that hear tbe Word of God and keep it.]— 
Genesis iii:15; Isaiah vii:14; Luke xi:29; Galatians iii:16. 

The wish of loving woman long 

Beat high with buoyant hope to see 
The Savior's advent; and their song 

Of him, mid his true ministry, 
Was sometimes wonderful, sublime, 

The purest poesy and praise 
Left in the literature of time. 

And lives, down to earth's latest days. 

Of all the sacred songsters that e'er sung 

Messiah's coming, as earth's moral king, 
None e'er more closely to his mission clung 

Than maids and mothers, as they muse and sing 
Of what the prophets in their praises saw — 

"A virgin shall bring forth God's only Son," 
Evoked their admiration and their awe; 

Since Eve's "one seed" was earth's most envied 
"one." 

Ev'n queen of Sheba, from the sunny south. 

Sought David's Son with sanctified delight; 
So, once a woman watched our Savior's mouth 

And what he said, and wondering at the sight 
Of God's own wisdom, gave these words of praise: 

"Behold, thy Mother must indeed be blessed; 
Her life's religious hope her Lord to raise; 

The babe to pillow on her pious breast!" 

Such perfect passion did the sex possess. 

To be the Mother at Messiah's birth. 
The one that would so many millions bless, 

By such a Son and Savior of the earth! 
More; like the love of immortality, 

The brave, good impulse, born of God and bred 
From Eve, by promise her posterity 

Should bear a "seed to bruise the serpent's head," 
Became a revered birthright-verity. 
Which saintly women wished with true sincerity, 
And Mary won, with tender, meek temerity! 



42 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

ABRAHAM'S HUNCH-BACK DAUGHTER HEALED. 

[When Jesus was about thirty years old, he began to teach in 
their synagogues; and a woman came who was bowed together 
and covild in no wise lift up herself . And Jesus said: Woman, 
thou art loosed from thine infirmity; and immediately she was 
made straight and glorified God. And he said: Aught not this 
daughter of Abraham be loosed on the Sabbath day? And aU 
his adversaries were ashamed, but the people rejoiced.] — Luke 
iii:23; xiii:10-17. 

Our Savior's pity seldom passed 

A sad and burdened sufferer by; 
Even a poor widow, who had cast 

Two mites into the treasury, 
Had special notice of his eye, 

And he proclaimed to all the earth 
The measure of her ministry, 

Its mightiness in moral worth. (Luke 21:2) 

A certain woman with a woe concealed. 

All wasted of her means and much in want, 
Once touched his garments' hem, and she was healed, 

And then knelt down and, nobly free from cant, 
Confessed her blessed cure in blood and soul. (Matt. 9:20) 

He simply said: "I felt salvation flow; 
Yet 'twas thy modest faith that made thee whole; 

So, daughter, in good cheer, delivered go!" 

Lo, here, a deformed cripple drags along! 

She is a hunch-back heir of Abraham; 
And Jesus calls her from the jostling throng, 

And, with the power of the Great I Am, 
Says: "Woman, thou from thine infirmity 

Art loosed!" then lays on her his healing hand; 
Her frail, bowed form has a fresh symmetry — 

Through her dear faith and His divine command. 

"Satan had bound her long," her Savior saith: 

"For eighteen years she'd crouched beneath her 
load;" 
But with the heroism of Abrahm's faith. 

She'd kept along her constant, weary road; 
And, spite the mocking of the moving throng, 

Had sought deliverance in her duty's path; 
So, new-born gratitude bursts out in song: 

"Lo! woman's Seed o'er rules the Serpent's wrath!" 
Christ's righteous pity shames their cruel wrong; 
Nor seems it strange for him to help a faith so strong ! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 43 

THE ruler's daughter THAT WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. 

[And a certain ruler, named Jairus, besought Jesus to come 
to Ills house and heal his only daughter, about twelve years old, 
who lay dying. ^Yhile he yet spoke they sent word to him that 
she was dead. But Jesus said: She shall be made well, only 
believe. And he went and took her by the hand, saying: Maid, 
arise! And she immediatly arose and her parents were 
amazed.]— Matthew ix:18; Mark v:22; Luke viii:il. 

Great is the grief of Galilee! 

A ruler hastens to his Lord 
Teaching by Tiberius' sea, 

And wants his healing touch and word; 
He asks these for an only child, 

His daughter of a dozen years: 
He worships him with accents wild. 

And thus entreats with anxious tears: 

"O Lord, my daughter's at the point of death! 

Do come and lay on her thy curing hand!" 
Just then was brought, by one all out of breath. 

This courteous and most kind, but sad, command: 
"Trouble the Master not; thy child is dead!" 

But Jesus bade: "Pear not; only believe!" 
To which Jairus, the ruler, answering, said: 

"Lord, I believe she still shall life receive!" 

Behold, they went, and to his house drew near; 

Paid wallers poured forth woe in piteous grief, 
Suited to melt the hardest men to hear. 

And "knowing she was dead," there's no relief! 
But Jesus looks upon this scene forlorn. 

And says: "The damsel is not dead, but sleeps." 
The hired wallers laughed his words to scorn — 

And with her mourners how the mother weeps! 

Then Jesus with him the two parents took, 

And Peter, James and John as witnesses, 
And by her bed the bidden silence broke: 

''Talitha Cumir — ^''Maid,'" he said, "■Arise T 
At once "her spirit came," and she awoke; 

She rose thus from the dead before their eyes, 
And, O, how lovely did her life now look; 

To grieving parents what a grand surprise! 
When Christ shall bid our sleeping dead arise, 
Let not our scorn exclude us from the skies! 



44 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

MARY MAGDALENE'S LOVE FOE HER MASTER AND LORD. 

[And when John was in prison he sent two disciples to ask 
Jesus: Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? 
And Jesus bade them tell John: The blind see, the lame walk, 
the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to 
the poor the gospel is preached. And there were with Jesus the 
twelve apostles and Mary Magdalene and Joana, wife of Herod's 
chamberlain, and many others who ministered of their sub- 
stance unto him. There stood at last by the cross of Jesus his 
Mother and Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven 
devils. ]~Matthew xi:2; Mark xvi:9; Lukevii:4. 

As face to face answers in glass, 

Doth Mary of Magdala show 
The power of faith to far surpass, 

In any class, their want and woe. 
While prison doubts did John perplex. 

She chose her Lord with love most chaste, 
By highest instincts of her sex. 

And cherished him unto the last. 

Whate'er before had been her home-bred fate, 

Her conduct or her kind of character, 
She consecrates to Christ her whole estate. 

In love to Him for His true love for her. 
Within Magdala's walls she once must wait 

Development of demon-like disease; 
The Master, going near her mansion gate. 

Resolved the devil's citadel to seize. 

In her insanity — seven times insane — 

She was by Satan there severely bound; 
Seven mad'ning devils — worse than minds inane, 

Possessed her person with a spell profound. 
Foreboding horrors of the fiercest hell — 

When, lo, the Lord of life first came along. 
And with his word he made this woman well. 

And heard, for Magdal's sighs, healed Mary's song! 

They herald forth her healing, faith and health; 

She sets apart her "substance" to support 
This wonder-worker with her well-kept wealth. 

Till regions far, to him in faith resort. 
Her friends, so grateful for his saving grace. 

Were henceforth won forever to his will. 
And went with ijleasure on, from place to place, 

To watch and study all his wonders still. 
She, with his Mother, stood on Calvary's hill 
And gazed amid Golgotha's mighty thrill, 
Then went with spices rare his tomb to fill! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 45 

HERODIAS, A MOTHER WITH THE HEAD OF HER MARTYR. 

[And when Herod's birthday was kept, the daxighter of Hero- 
dias danced before them, and the king promised her whatever 
she would ask, to the half of his kingdom. And, being instruct- 
ed by her mother, she said: (live me here the heatl of John the 
Baptist. And his head was brought in upon a charger and 
given to the damsel, and she gave it to her mother. Jesus said: 
There hath not been of woman born a greater man than John 
the Baptist.]— Matthew xiv:6-ll. 

It makes me shudder here to show 

This wanton woman's wickedness; 
It is as if the world of woe 

Were there intensified in this, 
Herodias had hell at heart; 

Her evil acts we ought to hate\ 
Yet 'tis imposed on all pure art, 

In part at least to expiate. 

Then come with me, thou kind and worthy one. 

To Herod's palace, though with heartfelt pain; 
There watch the darkest deed by woman done, 

Where Christ's forerunner without fault is slain. 
Herodias (the heir of Herod's crimes, 

Who slew the babes about where Christ was born) 
Married two uncles, living at the times; 

She doth the noble palace now adorn (?). 

The royal palms arise in regal pride, 

And grace the citadel, serene and grand; 
While valiant sentinels on every side. 

Like mail-clad statues, stand in stern command. 
Beneath the sheltering palm trees' bending shades, 

The palace and the prison both appear. 
Whence, blended with the click of warriors' blades, 

Comes mingling music on the coming ear. 

The palace enter— planned with art to please — 

It hath the courtiers used to halls of kings, 
iVnd the queen's daughter dances with such ease, 

Her airy icalzen seems like angel's wings. 
'Tis Herod's birthday! — he to rashness bred; 

And soon we hear his voice in solemn vow; 
And — must we! — see, the holy martyr's head 

Is handed to the nameless danseuse now! 
The monstrous Mother holds the martyr's head. 
Till, like a fiend she said: '■''My foe is dead!"' 



46 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

A GRECIAN WOMAN OF GREAT FAITH. 

[And Jesus arose and went secretly into the coasts of Tyre and 
Sidon, but he could not be hid; for a certain woman, a Greek, a 
Syro-Phenician by birth, came and fell down at his feet and be- 
sought him toheal her child. And Jesus said: O woman, great is 
thy faith ! Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter 
was made whole from that hour; and all the people glorified 
God, saying: He doeth all things well 11— Matthew xv:21-32; 
Mark vii:24-37. 

A Roman officer of war, 

Whose servant was severely ill, 
Sent forth importunately for 

The Savior to exert his skill; 
And, meeting him, made haste to tell 

His faith in Jesus' word and will; 
When, lo, his servant lives and well — 

So promptly Christ can prayer fulfill! 

And here's an alien Gi^eek— an heir of God ! — 

Kneeling unto her Lord, near pagan Tyre; 
She is a wretched mother, 'neath the rod 

Of deep affliction, and her chief desiie 
Is, that the Lord Divine, King David's Son, 

Would heal her daughter. Her first earnest prayer 
Had no response; her second plea has none. 

But tests, as if to drive her to dispair. 

Some men would send her, still unheard, away; 

Even Jesus says: "Salvation's of the Jews, 
And not for dogs!" "Truth, Lord!" her faith doth say; 

But thou wilt not the children's crumbs refuse 
This famished creature; thou art Christ, earth's Lord .'" 

Behold, "The bended reed he doth not bruise;" 
But saith: "O woman, be it as thy word!" 

And that whole region rings with the glad news — 

A heathen woman's helped, her child is healed! 

She starts the note of praise; the nation's stirred; 
The "Son of David" is indeed revealed. 

And hearty prayer, hence, everyw^here is heard. 
But he had "found, not even in Israel, 

So great a faith!"' — "Not many mighty works 
Can Jesus do," although Immanuel,,* 

Where unbelief among the needy lurks; 
Yet hear the heathen haste his power to tell. 
In the dear words: "He doeth all things well!" 

* God-with-us. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 47 

A WIDOW SOLACED WHEX WEEPING FOR HER ONLY SON. 

[And the next daj' Jesus went to Nain, and much people 
went with him, and \yhen he came near the city, behold, there 
was a dead man carried out, the onJi/ son of his mother, and slw 
2C(is a n-idow. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on 
her. and he said : Weep not ! Then he touched the bier and 
said: Young man. Arise! And he that was dead sat up, and 
he delivered him to his mother ; and there came a fear on all, 
and they said: God hath visited his people I]— Luke xii:ll-17. 

John's wond'rous record, "JesK.s weptP^ (.Johnll:35) 

Is unsurpassed in written speech; 
The Lord's kind sympathy, there kept, 

Earth's tenderest act doth tersest teach 
In Laconism to Uve and last 

As long as letters shall be read, 
And Christian consolation cast 

O'er the daik days around the dead. 

So when "the dead man carried out" of Nain, 

Is called ^'■His mother's only son, and she 
A icidoiv,''' here Saint Luke in style again 

Excels all uninspired history. 
See, two processions meet with mingled wail 

Of grief! Lo, a '•'■young man's borne to his grave 
Before his prime, and by his bier a "irtc/ozt'," pale, 

Beloved, and poor, cries: "-Can there no one savef 

Just then Jesus saw her. "Weep not!" he said, 

And touched the bier; the bearers all attend; 
^^Young man, Ari^e!^' he said unto the "dead," 

"And he sat up and spake." Their sorrows end. 
The heavenly Lord "delivers him alive 

Unto his mother," with kind words of cheer! 
'Tis God's "compassion" can such solace give; 

And most befitting, too, a moral "fear 
In the whole region round" should so revive 

That all exclaim: "The mighty God is here!" 

It were a sacrilege— a sin profane — 

To touch such pictures with pretentious paint, 
And to their stamped perfections add a stain 

Of fiction's pride. 'T would prostitute a saint! 
Let the ambitious, in a case like this. 

Hold up the picture in some hallowed place, 
And bid all see its beauty as it is. 

The special gift of God's inspiring grace! 
When this is done, and ye have seen the dead 
Restored, and joy in God — enough is said! 



48 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

"PETER'S AVIFE'S MOTHER" AND HER PIOUS MINISTRY. 

[And when Jesus returned, lie found Peter's wife's mother 
sick, and he touched her hand and the fever left her, and she 
arose and ministered unto them. A bishop must be blameless, 
the husband of one wife, and ruling well his own household, for if 
any provide not for them of his own house, he hath denied the 
faith and is worse than an infidel. ]~Matthew viii:14 ; I Timothy 
iii:2; v:8 

The Savior's thoughtful sympathy 

With "mother-'n-laws" is warm and quick; 
For in their absent ministry, 

"Peter's wife's mother w^as made sick," 
And so he hasted there to meet them. 

His grace, fonder than hurrying grief, 
Heard all the groans and aches, that greet them, 

With purposes oi prompt relief! 

The wdfe of Peter wished these words to say: 

"Thy wandering so were not the Savior's will!" 
But 'ere she scarce had spoke this scolding way, 

Or even declared, "We want a doctor's skill," 
The well-pleased Master made the matter plain. 

He simply touched her suffering mother's hand, 
And put to rest at once her wretched pain. 

And complete health came back at his command. 

Immediate longing of maternal love 

Made the cured woman, in her way, most kind, 
By prompt, pure hospitality to prove 

The Lord is Master of the loving mind. 
Though both these women in Saint Peter merge, 

His wife, her mother, still so well appear, 
That art presumes their acts to praise, and urge 

Them as choice models of demestic cheer. , 

Could we know more of these two women's lives. 

And how like heaven such kind households could 
move. 
We'd value more the mothers of our wives. 

And oftener have our Savior's healing love. 
The pole-star of a faithful pastor's life, 

Along his loving haste to heaven at last, 
Is, verily, his one wise, virtuous wife, 

Whose godly mother guides no mean repast; 
And oft a bishop who is bound to roam, 
Heals both these hearts on his returning "home!" 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 49 

THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA, WHO WINS OTHERS TO MESSIAH. 

[And Jesus, being weary, sat by Jacob's well, and there came 
a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said: If thou knew- 
est who it is that saith. Give me to drink, thou wouldst have 
asked of him and he would have given thee living water. God 
is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in 
spirit and in truth. Then she went into the city, and said: Is 
not this Messiah? And many of the Samaritans came and heard 
him, and said: We know that this is indeed the Christ, the 
Savior of the world.] — John iv:l-29. 

By Beer Facoft— by Jacob's well^ 

The weary traveler still waits, 
The legends of that land to tell, 

The stories of its ancient states. 
That well, now dry, yet wondrous deep, 

Is a true type of ancient times. 
Where wayfarers full often weep 

O'er crystal fountains filled by crimes. 

Contending armies have here come and gone; 

The ancient fountain with debris is filled; 
Cool drafts of water can no more be drawn — 

Save from the "wells of life" as our Lord willed. 
'Tis good to "sit thus" in the Savior's sight, 

And call to mind his counsels there, so kind, 
They filled Samaria's daughter with delight, 

And made her wish the world this man to find. 

She came thence with a zeal none can resist, 

"Come, see a man that told me all I've done! 
Now come, and see if this is not the Christ!" 

They came, they heard, they loved the Holy One! — 
"Thus" I resorted there with zeal, to rest 

Where Jesus waited in his weary way; 
There came a villager, as to be blessed. 

Near the hot noon-tide of the hurrying day. 

The scene was hightened into hallowed sense 

Of all Messias, and the woman, said — 
The "prophet" truly and without pretence, 

The sinner rescued whose secrets he read. 
I saw so clearly all that sacred scene. 

Where the Samarian woman wondering saw 
Our Lord disclosing what her life had been, 

That I would oft that living water draw. 
And seek for other souls the same forsooth; 
The v/ords there spoken yet teach age and youth: 
^'God is a spirit; icorship Him in truth T 



50 ECHOES OP INSPIRED AGES. 

"THE WOMAN THAT WAS A SINNER." 

[And one of the Pharises desired him to dine with him. And, 
behold, a certain woman, tliat was a sinner, brought an alabas- 
ter box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, 
and began to wash his feet with her tears, and did wipe them 
with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed 
them with the ointment. And he said: Thy faith hath saved 
thee. Thy many sins are forgiven thee; go in peace.]— Luke 
vii:36-50. 

There are sometimes such tender scenes 

Of penitential sorrow, 
We learn from them what pure love means, 

In terms no tongue can borrow. 
Beyond all things, in burdened thought, 

Is this poor woman's weeping, 
Who somtimes sat where Jesus taught. 

And saw what sin was reaping. 

Mark well this woman — not the Magdalen, 

Of seven perverse devils dispossessed — 
She's ranked "a sinner" by self righteous men; 

"Her sins ewe many," but she is much blessed! 
With them that weep she may have watched and wept, 

Unnoticed, grieving near the gate or Nain, 
When slowly went the widow's son that slept 

In death, till Jesus gave him life again. 

She weeps to wash his weary feet from dust. 

Who cast out devils and who raised the dead; 
She loves her Savior with no sign of lust. 

Whatever life before she may have led. 
She pours her flood of tears upon his feet 

To wash hot earth away, and with her hair 
She wipes them dry, and then with perfume sweet, 

She bathes in fragrance and embalms them there. 

She even kissed the chrismed and sacred flesh, 

The feet that bore about his blessings far 
So frequently, to others lives refresh, 

And lift the much-despised from much dispair. 
How wonderful appears her weeping faith! 

Her sins "so many" will from henceforth cease. 
Her "faith hath saved her," so her Savior saith; 

"Thy sins are all forgiven; go thou in peace!" 
Peace, guilty soul! Pardon is thine award; 
For great's thy love to this forgiving Lord! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 51 

THE ADULTERESS, PENITENT, ARRAINGED AND PARDONED. 

[And the scribes and pharisees brought unto him a woman 
taken in adultery, and said: Moses commanded that such be 
stoned. He answered: He that is without sin among you. let 
him first cast a stone at lier. And they, being convicted by their 
own conscience, went out one by one. Then lie said: Woman, 
hath no man condemned thee? She said: No man. Lord. 
Then said Jesus: Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no 
more ! J— John viii:3-ll— King James' version. 

It's plain our Lord in his pure love 

Meant chastity should be here cherished; 
But penitents his pity move, 

Else our poor souls in sin had perished. 
Adultery he did condemn; 

Adoring penitents doth pardon; 
Aye, Jesus tenders joy to them, 

By bearing in his breast their burden. 

"Unto the uttermost that come to him" 

Our Savior shows his power on earth to pardon; 
And neither pharisee nor Sereaphim 

Can reasons give against his love; there are none! 
Oft clamorers, that stand to clench the stone, 

And cast at others 'neath Christ's knowing eye, 
Have palsied sense, which he compels to own 

The worst denouncers were the tirst to die! 

Selfrighteous pharisees he searcheth surely, 

Who censure others while themselves are sinners, 
Whose sluggish conscience sleeps in sin securely. 

While bitter is the grief of first beginners. 
This trembling woman, caught in one transgression, 

Was siezed by impure men and witness ample; 
But her prompt faith begets a good profession, 

While Christ and conscience drive tJieni from the 
temple. 

She hath found healing virtue in his favor. 

And calls him ^^Lord,^' who can her so deliver; 
"Neither do I condemn thee!" said her Savior; 

"Forgiven, T charge thee: Go, be chaste forever!" 
So let no shameless leach hide in her shadow; 

He should condone her case with sharp conviction; 
So, too, the wanton maid or wife or widow; 

For even if this fact were proved a fiction. 
The Lord demands of all a life of virtue— 
Or else salvation were itself no value! 



52 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

MARTHA,* THE EXACTING SISTER, YET EXCELLENT HOSTESS OF 
OUR SAVIOR. 

[And Jesus went to Bethany, and Martha received him into 
her house; but she was cumbered with much serving; and Jesus 
said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful about many 
things; but one tiling is needful. And Martha said: Master, 
if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, but I know 
that he shall rise again! Jesus wept! For Jesus loved Martha, 
and her sister and Lazarus.]— Luke x:;iS; John xi:5-46; xii:2. 

/ look upon and love her, 

Martha, the mistress of the home 
Where angels, hovering above her. 

Saw Christ, when worn and weary, come 
For peace and rest and sympathy; 

I bless her for her kind behavior 
Toward Jesus in his ministry — 

My persecuted Friend and Savior! 

She was indeed "an Hebrew of the Hebrews," 

Most faithful, careful, frugal, meek and kind; 
With many cardinal and Christian virtues, 

With active body, aptitude of mind, 
And faith in merciful, foretold Messia's 

Decree of resurrection from the dead, (Luke 9:30) 
To earth made known by Moses and Elias, 

And seen in what her Master did and said. 

Behold dead Lazarus' sister as she hied 

To meet her coming "Master" and declare: 
"Hadst thou been here my brother had not died!" 

Mark at the grave her moral graces there; 
Behold the wise attentions of her will 

In Simon's house— raised Lazarus a guest — 
And who can but admire and love her still, 

And say: "jBe Marthas name and memonj blest !'^ 

Let no man trifle more with her true worth. 

Nor say her Master meant to censure then, 
And only censured when around her hearth 

He was made welcome, though "despised of men." 
Indeed much '■^carefulness''' becomes her well 

On several occasions; still there are 
Some seasons when no tongue nor sign can tell 

How kind and weary guests hate words of care, 
While loving speech inparts a lasting spell 
Which doth delight us, whereso'er we dwell. 

* Martha means exacting, or harsh and provoking. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 53 

HER SISTER MARY SITTING AT THEIR MASTER'S FEET. 

[And Martha had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' 
feet and heard his word. And Jesus said: Mary hath chosen 
that good part which shall never be taken from her. And they 
made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was a 
guest. Then took Mary a pound of spikenard, very costly, and 
anointed Jesus' feet, and the house was filled with tlie odor of 
the ointment. And he said: She hath done what she could, 
and wherever the gospel is preaclied tins shall be told for a 
memorial of her.]— Mark xiv:8; Luke x:39; John xii:l-10. 

As Mary at her Master's feet 

Hath found the pearl of priceless worth, 
And chosen Him whose charms can meet 

Her every want in heaven and earth, 
She well may wait and share his peace, 

All suited with sufficient aid; 
Her comfort now can never cease^ 

Her fortune cannot ever fade. 

Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath ever heard, 

The joy that is with Jesus there revealed, 
Where she now hears his native, heavenly word, 

Discoursing truths even yet from earth concealed, 
Mid scenes most pleasing, sacred, pure and fair. 

Where all is holy as her Savior's heart. 
And praise, communion, are for prayer and care; 

Thus "Mary chose the good, immortal part." 

This is the "only want" we mortals have; 

For "only this one thing" is all we need; 
Ood sends our bodies to the silent grave 

At will, among our dear yet moldering dead; 
But souls, found sitting at their Savior's feet, 

Hearing his lips unfold the heavenly life. 
Have heart communings heavenly and complete, 

Where Mary hears him still, unmoved by strife. 

Such endless life in ever-living love. 

With such a priceless, sympathizing Ijord, 
At feasts unfailing, of our friends above, 

Who, dead, have risen at the Redeemer's word. 
Is worthy of ambition's wisest aim, 

Till Truth triumphant crown our last endeavor, 
And all exultant in Immanuel's name. 

Faith sheds her fragrance filling heaven forever; 
Then magnify with me this Mary's fame; 
She did her best, and we should do the same! 



54 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

SALOME: WHO WAS MOTHER OF ZEBEDEE'S SONS? 

[And the Mother of Zebedee's children came to Jesus and 
said: Grant that these my two sons may sit one on thy right 
hand and the other on the left in thy kingdom. But Jesus 
said: Can ye drink of my sorrow and be baptised with my suf- 
ferings? They answer: We can. And they became his willing 
martyrs; their Mother also was last at his cross and first at his 
grave.]— Matthew xx:20: xxvii:55; Mark xv:40; xvi. 

Who must the "per/ecf* Mother'''' be 

That stands there praying with her sons, 
The zealous "sons of Zebedee" 

AVho gave to Christ his only ones, 
Assisting by Tiberius' sea, 

When he was mending there his net 
Beside his busy fishery? 

Who is she? Name her; nor forget! 

Saint Matthew says that it was also she 

Who stood with Mary Magdalene and saw 
Our Savior die; and so, Salome she must be; 

For Mark doth plainly the same picture draw 
Of her pure mind and pious ministry. 

Then who, of all the Hebrew heroines 
Has fairer, higher fame in history 

Or more renown with her Redeemer wins? 

God grants to men of fame to give their name 

To their wise parents; thus was Washington's; 
And James and John adjoined eternal fame 

To Zebedee and her who bore his sons. 
So often, too, the earth's most favored heirs 

Have asked for honor's fame, in fortune's hour; 
Salome begged thus, in ambition's prayers. 

The proudest gifts in governmental ijower. 

Yet here Salome set apart her heirs 

To Christ's baptismal and cross-bearing pain; 
Bore spices to his tomb, with tears and prayers, 

And saw and sang: '"'The Lord is insen again r 
O! what a galaxy of all that's good 

Is in that modest group of mourners drawn. 
Those Christian women where the crosses stood, 

And by their Master's tomb at morning's dawn \ 
An angel's pity they all there possessed; 
But Saint Salome seems one of the best! 

* Salome means perfect. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 55 

Pilate's wife, procla, and peter's accusers in court. 

[And when Jesus was arraigned, Peter sat in the palace of 
the high priest, and a damsel said: Thou wast with Jesus. But 
he denied before them all. And soon another maid saw him 
warming himself, and said: This man was also with Jesus; 
and he again denied him with an oath. Then Jesus turned and 
looked on Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly. And 
Pilate's wife sent unto him, saying: Have thou nothing to do 
with Jesus, that just man, for I have suif ered this day many 
things in a dream, because of him.]— Matthew xxvi:69; xxvii:19. 

The palace of the Jews' high priest 

Was warmed; for it was chill and damp; 
And women — there were two at least — 

Tended the tire and trimmed the lamp. 
These damsels on '^ Chris fs dreadful night" 

Heard him arraigned for heresy, 
And watched with care the wicked spite, 

And such as were in sympathy. 

When Peter following Jesus "far behind," 

And creeping slyly in among the crowd, 
Revealed most clearly what was in his mind, 

They both accused him in bold words and loud, 
Of being Jesus' friend, from Galilee! — 

O, what an opportunity to plead for Christ, 
And win upon woman's pure sympathy, 

In faithful words their feelings to enlist! 

Such serving maids are oft the SavioT's friends ; 

These two seem, though, among his searching foes; 
While Procla, Pilate's wife, a picture lends 

Quite other, as this earnest sequel shows: 
From the priest's palace they took Jesus next 

To Pilate's court, who on his judgment seat. 
When mosl by Jewish cries and envy vexed. 

Received a messenger bowed at his feet, 
Who brought this dread appeal: "Do not, I pray, 

Do anything against that just man's life, 
From Galilee ; for I have dreamed this day 

Of dreadful ivoes against his foes. Your Wipe.'^ 

Had this bold dreamer then — whence Proclus came — 
Been heeded by her husband on his throne, 

'Twould have put high King Pontius Pilate's name> 
And saved his suiciding, sad and lone. 

Mark, foes and friends of Jesus in that scene. 
Seem from each rank and sex and race of men. 

At times of strange perplexity and strife 

'Tis good to heed a wise. God-fearing wife! 



56 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE WOMEN AT THE TRAGIC MOUNTAIN. 

[And as they led Jesus away to Calvary there followed him a 
great company of women tliat bewailed him. And when he was 
crucified, the wife of Cleopas, Mary the mother of .James the 
less, and Salome, and Mary Magdalene, stood by the cross. And 
Jesus seeing John and his Mother, said unto her: Woman, 
behold thy son ; and to the disciple: Behold thy mother ! And 
Mary Magdalene and that other Mary waited and saw where 
the Lord was laid.]— Mattliew xxvii; Mark; Luke; John. 

It is too much for tongues of men, 

Or pen or pencil to portray 
The groups of women weeping, when 

Our Lord was led his doleful way! 
It bafRes almost our belief 

In man, to mark the moving throng, 
Upon that painful way of grief, 

Where Christ doth drxig his C7'oss along ! 

E'en Rubens scarce could reach the cruel scene 

Where Christ upon his cross was crucified, 
And view the various groups that intervene 

Of women sadly weeping at his side. 
Some "daughters of Jerusalem''^ appear. 

Who oft have heard his wondrous, heavenly word; 
Some ^'Gcdilean icomen^ gather near 

The lonely sufferings of their sinless Lord. 

Still nearer by his cross, behold, now stand 

His Mother, Mary, and the Mary Magdalene,* 
Three Marys bound — a thrice immortal bond — 

To linger saddest, last about the scene. 
Mary Magdalene, much grieved, doth move 

Now towards the cross, and now among the crowd, 
A chaste example of unchanging love. 

Of whom a dying Prince might well be proud. 

We mark, too, that the Mother feels so much 

The "sword" pressaged "piercing her swooning soul" 
That the disciple deemed most fit for such 

A care, takes her at once in his control; 
Nor is she left wholly bereft and lone! 

Supremely tender, given by Saint John, 
Just at that time were Jesus' words and tone 

Entrusting her to him, as if her son — 
These women, too, came with him from far Galilee, 
To mingle spices, tears and tender ministry! 

* See Mary Magdalene also in "Messiah and His Mission." 



WOMEN OP THE BIBLE. o7 

THE WOMEN AT THE SEPULCHRE. 

[And Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and 
Salome, came with spices early unto the sepulchre. And they, 
entering in. saw a young man clothed in a long, white garment, 
who said: Ye women of (ialilee, be not afraid! Ye seek Jesus 
of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. 
Behold the place where the Lord lay.]— Matthew xxvii; Mark 
xvi; Luke xxiv; John xv. 

The women last about the cross 

And first to seek the Savior's tomb, 
Led, by their sense of bitter loss. 

To glance into its utter gloom, 
From Bethany at break of day 

Sought out the holy Sepulchre; 
And "Who shall roll the stone away?" 

Was by all asked each wonderer. 

They're bearing boughten spices to embalm 

The Savior's body in his silent bed. 
And coming hither in morn's holy calm. 

Their chief desire seems thus to cheer the dead. 
With wondering sight they see the stone's away! 

And stooping down, behold, in beauty stand 
A brilliant angel, robed in bright array, 

A very chieftain from heaven's chosen band. 

"Fear not!" he said— for they now seem afraid — 

"The friend ye seek is risen from the dead; 
See w^here your living Lord was lately laid; 

He is not here — he is risen, as lie said!'''' 
How wonderful this was! as it first fell 

On woman's ears, w^ho herald forth the word. 
If Christ were raised, then shall we rise as well, 

Most hopeful message mortals ever heard! 

How fit these shuddering females first should find 

Bright "immortality thus brought to light," 
And heaven opening to all human kind. 

As the new Sabbath dawns upon the night! 
How many women yet with angels meet, 

And heavenly forms to human faith appear? 
The gracious Lord our groping love doth greet 

And faith in Christ casts out our cruel fear. 
"Who'll roll away the stone?" ice often ask; 
When timely Providence hath done the task! 



58 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

WERE JESUS' MOTHER AND OTHER WOMEN AT THE ASCENSION? 

[And Jesus showed himself alive by many sure proofs after 
his passion, speaking to his disciples of the kingdom of God, 
and bade them tarry at Jerusalem till endowed with power 
from on high. And when he had said these things, while they 
beheld, he was taken up into heaven, and a cloud received him. 
And two angels said: As he ascended out of your sight, so 
shall he come again among men. Then tlie disciples with the 
women, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, returned and tarried in 
Jerusalem,]— Luke xxiv:45-53; Acts i:3-14; Psalms lxviii:18. 

Our Savior's Mother may have seen 

Her Son ascending up on high, 
To send down matchless gifts on men, 

And followed him with her fond eye 
Far up into the ether air — 

His spirit form scaling the sky. 
Than fairest moon by far more fair, 

Till veiled in cloud that hovered nigh! 

Those moon-lit* beings must have been 

His mixed deciples, "men of Galilee" 
And waiting "women," watching even then, 

Who much "attended on his ministry." (Luke 8:2) 
As he first showed himself to female friends— 

To the fond women weeping at his tomb — 
So when his earthly ministry now ends. 

They'd have some sight of his ascension home. 
Behold them, huddled there, on Olive's height! 

Disciples all now bathed in new-born dew. 
And each arrayed in lunar, argent light, 

That like fine halo holds them in full view! 

No scene were so rhapsodic, yet so real! 

That watching there the way the Savior went, 
Surpasses superstition's strained ideal, 

While heaven and earth are nowhere else so blent. 
Two angels there — how bright they were and fair! — 

Said: "Why stand ye here gazing into heaven! 

To see your Lord uplifted by the air? 

Till holy greeting be to him there given? 
He'll soon descend to earth with the same ease, 

And dwell indeed among the sons of men 
Whose pleasure will be what their Lord would please, 

And heaven and earth shall be as if one then!" 
With such good hope sent them from heaven's gate. 
Those men and women well God's spirit wait! 

* We know not the hour of our Lord's ascension. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 59 

JESUS' MOTHER IN THE PENTECOST PRAYER-MEETING. 

[And they all continued in prayer and supplication with the 
women and with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and with his 
brethren. There were together about a hundred and twenty, and 
when the Pentecost was come they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost, as it was written: I will pour out my Spirit upon all 
flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and who- 
soever shall call on the Lord shall be saved.]— Joel ii:28-32; 
Acts i:14:-15; iii:l-21. 

How sweet and hallowed are the scenes 

Where men and women, waiting still, 
Make mention what the Master means 

Whose prophets he will so fulfill. 
Though mourning long their martyred Lord, 

His Comforter is coming now. 
To light with fire his living word 

Of brightness on each beaming brow. 

The first prayer-meeting for the Holy Ghost, 

After our Savior's so sublime ascent. 
Where men and women mingle worship, most 

Devoutly asking his divine intent. 
Is so impressive, as a scene of prayer. 

It's cherished, studied, in both church and state. 
And, what salvation is sent everywhere. 

Till all the world doth on its wisdom wait ! 

And see that Mother of God's only Son, 

With other women, sit so wan and sad, 
Till waiting on the brow of everyone. 

There glows the smile of God, so sweet and glad ! 
Wouldst thou watch Mary with those women there? 

Behold a model for all mothers dear. 
Chastened with sorrow and cherished with prayer, . 

Charmed with new hopes of her Son's heavenly 
cheer. 

Past middle life, and full of modest love, 

A widow, poor, yet not exposed to want. 
Her face beams bright with beauty from above; 

Her words of counsel are with naught of cant; 
And her companions, come from Galilee, 

Attendant saints on teachings of her Son, 
Who waited on him with fond ministry, 

And to his will were each entirely won, 
Are good, pure, Galilean peasantry. 
Nobler than queens' and kings' knight-errantry! 



60 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

. saphira's sin against the holy ghost. 

[And when they prayed and were filled with the Holy Spirit 
they had — for a time — all things common. And Ananias and 
Saphira, his wife, sold a piece of land, and laid the pretended 
l)rice at the Apostle's feet. But Peter, knowing their falsehood, 
said: How is it that ye have agreed together to lie unto the 
Holy Ghost ! And they fell dead and were carried out, and great 
fear fell on all.]— Exodus xx:16; Acts iv; v; Revelation xxi:8. 

Lo Saphira and her spouse 

Had agreed upon a lie, 
That brought ruin on their house, 

And even doomed themselves to die! 
Henceforth that trains all for truth, 

In their language and their life, 
In wise years, as well as youth, 

Son or servant, sire or wife! 

See stalwart sinners in God's searching stand! 

Nor canst thou guess where first their guilt began; 
Lies fall so thick around their thankless hand, 

The boy must have been father to the man. 
All falsity is sad, when fairly seen. 

Whene'er, where'er, beneath the wholesome sky, 
A man consents to a self-curse so mean 

As, without motive, even, to icish a lie! 

But if a ivoman, as his ivife, conspire, 

With grave mendacity, to God menace, 
Three perverse parties through her vice expire — 

Both lie, and liars die in bad disgrace. 
So dead Saphiras in our day are seen. 

And Truth and Virtue ought not die in vain; 
"Great fear should fall" on women, youth and men. 

Where falsehood hath their friends or foes thus slain ! 

Some mortals seem to suicide the most. 

Decoying Truth to death, for trivial dust; 
Saphira's sin against the Holy Ghost 

Was simply lying for a selfish lust! 
Then, dames and trifling girls, be true to God! 

He holdeth near his holy ear to hear, 
And where Saphira first did feel his rod 

Was when of lies she tirst had lost her fear! 
Lo! every low deceit leads down to death; 

To lie itself's to die, to breathe in dying breath. 
The ruin of liars is lasting and real; 
But Truth is of beauty, the beau-ideal! 



WOMEN OP THE BIBLE. 61 

MARY, THE MOTHER OF MARK, AND HER MEETING FOR PRAYER. 

[Now about that time, Herod the king, killed James the 
brother of John, with the sword, and proceeded to take Peter 
also. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison, buu the Angel of tlie 
Lord came upon him, saying : Arise, quickly ! And his chains 
fell off, and he went out and followed him, and came to tlie 
ho'use of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, 
where many were gathered together praying for him.]— Acts 
xii:l-12. 

Peter had healed an "impotent man," 

That begged at "the beautiful gate," 
And brought on himself the pharisee's ban, 

And Herod's implacable hate, 
James had been bound and put to the sword, 

And Peter's imprisoned to die. 
When, lo ! a kind angel comes down from the Lord, 

In haste from his home in the sky; 

He comes to the captive, kept bound for no crime, 

Comes down to the dungeon, that desperate place! 
Comes to him, a princely, tall man m his prime. 

And leaves on his limbs not a manacle's trace; 
Then opens the prison and iron-barred gate, 

With neither a signal nor notable sound; 
Then leaves the freed prisoner apprised of his fate. 

And his keepers to perish if he is not found. 

He seeks the disciples — unknown in the dark — 

For saints in their sorrow and shelter to share. 
And knocks at the gate of "the Mother of Mark," 

Where saints are assembled to save him by prayer. 
A coincidence this, most convincing in kind, 

That proveth how prayer hath a puissant power, 
To mingle the human and heavenly mind. 

To do useful deeds, any day, any hour. 

But the brightest and best of this picture appears 

The wonderful faitlt that this icouian hath felt, 
Who convened the true Christians together in tears 

That now, day and night, in her hospice have knelt, 
Petitioning th' Almighty, Saint Peter to save 

From Herod's dark dungeon and haling to death. 
E'en the bright heavenly Angel were only more brave 

Than this Mother of John Mark, majestic in faith. 
O, long let her works o'er this world live and wave 
In the wonderful power of such prayer faith to save ! 



62 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE DAMSEL NAMED KHODA, THAT HARKED AT THE DOOR. 

FAnd as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came 
to harken, named Rhoda, and when she knew Peter's voice, she 
opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter 
stood before th^ ^-ate ! And when they had opened the door he 
declared how the Lord had brought him out of prison, and bade 
them go tell James the less and the other disciples.]— Acts 
,xii:13-20. 

Fine pictures, though painted for praise, 

Portraying home scenes in the past. 
Delight us, in even our days, 

With lessons that ever will last; 
This Mary's house, though, is unmatched, 

A thing full of ethical thought, 
To which a great wonder's attached, 

A miracle must have been wrought! 

For Peter imprisoned, in dungeon and chains. 

The subject impressed on the saints in their prayer, 
Delivered by Angels from perils and pains. 

Was knocking and waiting a welcome now there. 
Then a damsel, named Rhoda, ran hither to hark. 

Nor did she long watch or listening wait; 
His voice she discovered so distinct in the dark 

That she ran in and said: Peter knocks at the gate ! 

All the earth throbbeth still with her ecstatic thrill. 

Who for gladness forgot e'en to welcome her guest; 
So Peter seems standing, too, knocking there still, . 

While the damsel runs in to delight all the rest. 
Christ knocks at thy gate, even now he'd come in; 

How home-like and pleased were all in the place, 
Though rejoicings so great did with Rhoda begin, 

Who so grandly declared both redemption and 
grace. 

Of Rhoda, this damsel, the race will still read. 

When the world's seven wonders will cease to be read, 
How Peter appeared her eighth wonder, indeed. 

Escaped from the dungeon — alive from the dead! 
Though th' Island of Rhoda — red rose of the sea — 

Had the world's seventh wonder^ a high statue and 
fair. 
This meek, blushing maiden, more bless-ed must be 

Than that "Rhodan Colossus" thus raised in the air; 
And, as peasants and nobles have one pious need. 
Both households and damsels have Biblical heed! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 63 

TABITHA (DORCAS), THE BENEFACTRESS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. 

[Now there was at Joppa, a disciple named Tobitha, which 
means Dorcas (a doe). This woman was full of good works 
and alms deeds which she did. And when she was sick and 
died, they sent for Peter, and all the widows stood by him 
weeping, and showing the garments she had made. And Peter, 
turning lo the body, said: Tobitha, arise! And she opened her 
eyes, and sat up.]— Acts ix:3(5-42. 

I gazed once on a dead gazelle,* 

That erst like sunshine o'er the hills 
Had swept, or as the happy swell 

Of song when fragrance summer fills; 
And all her acts of peace and love 

And beauty still about me swept, 
As blithe as sunbeams from above; 

But yet the winds both sighed and wept, 
And rippling said: "The roe is dead! 

So death demanded tears when Dorcas died. 

And yet her radiant life revealed her love, 
Her bright and sunny years, as Shoron's pride, 

That moved as deftly as a doe or dove. 
"We see her now, for widows sew away 

On garments made and given for other's needs; 
Her beaming countenance is bright as day. 

And dear as gratitude to God, her deeds! 

But as her cherished hours grow chill and damp. 

Her windows and her eyes devoid of glass, 
And she sits sewing by her smoking lamp, 

(For then they knew not kerosene nor gas), 
Her person, pale and overtaxed appears. 

And goaded far by zeal for other's good. 
And sight of widows' wants and woes and tears, 

Until disease and death upon her stood! 

Then those poor widows showed the things she gave, 

And, saying the same w^ords the Savior said. 
His great Apostle held her from the grave, 

Delivering her alive, risen from the dead! 
And still — though she is dead — her deeds shall live\ 

No garment made by DorcQS doth grow old; 
Her deeds of love still deathless helpers give; 

Her good example excels purest gold; 
Her class of women are in every clime. 
And "Tabitha's" an epitaph sublime! 

*Tabitha means "Dorcas," adoe, and "clearsighted asa deer." 



64 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

LYDIA, THE HOSTESS, WHOSE HEART THE LORD OPENED. 

[And a certain woman named Lydia. whose heart the Lord 
opened, that she attended unto the things spoken by Paul, 
when she was baptized and her household, besought us, saying: 
If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my 
bouse and abide there. And Paul and Bilas went from the 
prison into the house of Lydia and comforted the brethren— in 
the name of .Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love.]— 
Acts xvi:14-40; I Peter i:8. 

Where Philip, king of Macedon, 

Held a new province in his name, 
And the safe aegis of his son 

Enhanced King Alexander's fame; 
Where Rome's Republic fought her last, 

And Brutus, Cassius, fought and fell. 
This case of Lydia is cast 

Which Doctor Luke describes so well. (Col. 4:U.) 

Someone has said — when bantered to the test — 

Of the two sisters loved in Bethany, 
That, before dinner he liked Martha best, 

And after, Mary's sociability. 
But Lydia is lauded like them both; 

A merchantess and mistress of her home. 
With her whole house she took the Christian's oath, 

And bade Christ's friends most freely hither come. 

Yes Lydia, precious, loving proselyte; 

First European convert of Saint Paul; 
"Whose heart the Lord had opened" to the right, 

Princess of Kindness, we are proud to call ! 
To the apostles, perscuted, tried. 

She spoke this welcome, hospitable word: 
"Come to my house and there secure abide, 

If you have judged me faithful to the Lord." 

Her Lord, unseen as yet, she did so love, 

She helped his hated leaders to the last; 
Though wealthy, she believed in wealth above, 

And with Christ's followers her fortunes cast. 
Her purple dyes and products, rich and rare. 

She prized less than the precious word of life 
Heard in Proseuche, or the place of prayer; 

And her faith strengthened for Truth's future strife, 
Till Thyatira, her own native town. 
Had soon a Christian church of high renown ! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 65 

THE DEMONIAC DAMSEL, A MACEDONIAN SLxVVE. 

[And as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, with a spirit of 
divination, followed us, crying : These men are servants of the 
Most High God, who show unto us the way of salvation. But 
Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit: I command 
thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And 
when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, 
they caught Paul and Silas and brought them before the rulers, 
who scourged them and put them in prison.]— Acts xvi:16; 
Marki:24; Luke iv:34. 

To have one's mind so much deranged, 

And seized with eccentricities, 
As to be bitterly estranged 

From friends and their felicities — 
All freaks of frail insanity. 

Suggest the power of demon souls 
To proclaim true profanity 

Which naught but Jesus' name controls. 

I saw a letter in Jerusalem, 

Sent from America, by one insane, 
To Jesus Christ, that begged him come to them 

And bring to life their beloved child again! 
That message, doubtless from a mind diseased. 

And longing further to be loved and blessed, 
Was perhaps seeking the dear Savior pleased, 

And may have set her sorrowing heart at rest. 

But when a mind with evil genii there. 

Endowed, perchance, with superhuman power, 
Pursues apostles on their way to prayer, 

It's certainly a very serious hour. 
So, "being grieved," Paul turned to her possessed 

By a sane demon (that did mocking shout 
For God and truth), and the spirit thus addressed: 

"•In Clirisfs name I commayid thee to come out!" 

Her wicked guesswork instantly was gone; 

So was her worth as a soothsaying slave!* 
But Satan was not to be so outdone — 

Who sent Gergesas' swine to a watery grave. 
He now incites her owners to resort 

To regal justice, and the rulers urged 
By an unjust, ingenious, false report. 

To have her healers haled to pris'n and scourged-- 
But this left Satan surely in the lurch; (See E. of I. A.) 
Shook all the place, and planted there a church ! 

* "Damsel" {paidiske), a slave, owned by several men. 



^ ECHOES OP INSPIRED AGES. 

FOUR PROPHET DAUGHTEES OF PHILIP THE DEACON. 

[And the next day, we that were of Paul's company, came to 
Cesarea, and entered into the house of Deacon Philip, the 
evangelist, who had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. 
And when both we and they besought Paul not to go up to 
Jerusalem, he answered: What mean ye to weep and break 
my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only but to die at 
Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when be would 
not be persuaded, we ceased, saying: The will of the Lord be 
done !]— Acts xxi :8-14 ; ii :16-18. 

It pleases people to complain; 

We hear it sometimes harping said, 
The "Preachers' sons are oft profane, 

And Deacons' daughters, too, are bad !"' 
But here's a family where four 

Fair daughters — Deacon Philip's own — 
Have learned so far of heavenly lore, 

They make Saint Paul's near perils known. 

How far this same evangelist was seer 

It is not possible, perhaps, to know; 
But it most plainly must to all appear, 

His daughters prophesied, and he did too. 
Soon after the "Seven Deacons" were ordained, 

And their first martyr, Stephen, had been stoned. 
Prophetic spirit so in Philip reigned 

This gift in him Saint Luke most gladly ow^ned. 

"The Angel of the Lord" bade him "Go South;" 

"The Spirit" told him there a "eunuch" teach; 
And from the inspiration of his mouth 

"The Ethiopian" went forth to preach. 
That all the daughters of this deacon, then. 

Should by the Spirit be inspired while young, 
And feel deep symp^athy with sacred men. 

Would seem as certain as was ever sung. 

''He had four daughters tvho did prophesy;^' 

Their fair virginity and youthful years 
Should bring young people of both sexes nigh, 

To test the power of sympathetic tears. 
''What mean ye so to iceep and break my heart T 

The greatest martyr of mankind exclaims; 
And their reply, so placid, free from art, 

"God's will be done,^' for wisdom guides his aims, 
Makes us most eager even to guess their names. 
And wish their portraits to be put in frames! 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 67 

CANDACE, OF ETHIOPIA, AND THE QUEEN OF THE SOUTH. 

[A man of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethi- 
opians, came to Jerusalem to worship; and reading from the 
Prophesy of Isaiah (chapter liii), said to Philip: I believe that 
Jesus Chriet is the Son of God. The queen of the South came 
from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and 
behold a greater than Solomon is here.]— Acts viii:26-40; 
Matthew xii:42; I Kings x:l-13. 

The wisdom of the ancient world 

Sought converse with King Solomon, 
Whose fountain forth from Zion purled, 

A source of life, like David's Son ; 
From whence salvation's sunlit streams 

Forever in abundance flow, 
And righteousness reflects its beams 

To glad the world where'er they go. 

The sage Sabeans in the sunny South, 

Whose balm and spices were, of all, the best, 
Heard of his wisdom, first by word of mouth. 

Then their fair queen went forth, his skill to test; 
In royal robe, with gem and diadem. 

With escort proud and of imperial size. 
The empress journeyed to Jerusalem, 

And saw its glory, full of glad surprise. 

O see her cavalcade of sage and court 

On camels richly laden drawing near 
His capital, whose high and kind report 

Had reached the earth's remotest listening ear! 
She came for wisdom and for Christian grace. 

Inquiring ancestress of Candace, qaeen 
Of Homer's "blameless Ethiopian race," 

Who in our Savior's time once more are seen. 

Queen Candace sendeth, from her southern court, 

Her treasurer, in quest of heavenly truth, 
And to Jerusalem enjoined resort; 

He, traveling, read Isaiah's tale of ruth — 
How Christ, the Lamb, had there been led as dumb, 

And suffered 'neath our sins' avenging rod: 
'Twas well he hither had, to worship, come; 

For there he said: "Christ is the Son of God!" 
And bore the happy tidings thither home — 
While those rejecting Christ still joyless roam. 



OS ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

PHEBE, THE DEACONESS, AND OTHER DAUGHTERS OF GOD. 

[I commend unto thee Phebe,* our sister, a deaconess of the 
church at Cenchrea, for sl)e hath been a succorer of many. 
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, who have for my life laid down 
their necks. Greet, Mary who bestowed much labor on us; 
salute Rufus and his Mother and mine; salute Triphena and 
Tryphosa,* who labored much in the Lord ; salute Philologus 
and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and all the saints with them— 
the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.]— Romans xvi. 

We wonder what our world would do 

Without somebody to abuse; 
Some trusted woman wise and true, 

Or active Christian to accuse. 
Even Paul some people call perverse 

Toward the women of his time, 
Than wicked despots deem him worse. 

As if Christ's courtesies were crime. 

But who that lives and breathes, loves wholesome air, 

Would not appreciate such words of praise 
As Paul pays virtuous women everywhere? 

How fondly doth he set forth Phehe's ways — 
A deaconess indeed, with duties done 

So well and nobly that the world needs know 
How to "assist" such, like the light and sun. 

Will make our gladdest moral graces glow. 

He says, she is "o^tr sister'''' in the highest sense — 

A daughter of the Lord Almighty, then— 
A precious helper, having no pretence, 

Yet "succorer of many" suffering men. 
And then PrisciUa, that Aquila's wife. 

Who, persecuted and expelled from Rome, 
Both sheltered Paul at peril of their life, 

And gave as hospice their own godly home. 

Our far-off Gentile churches join to-day 

In praising Phebe and Priscilla's worth; 
And one more Mai^y hail here by the way, 

Whose acts are honored everywhere on earth ; 
Few homes seem full without her social fame. 

While Julia and Tryphena's gentle trust. 
And bright Tryphosa's* brilliancy of name, 

Led their choice test of love too chaste for lust. 
And Rufus' Mother many a son might suit — 
Sure, we do well such w^omen to ^'■salute .'" 

* Phebe and Tryphosa mean sunny ; Julia and Tryphena, gentle. 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 69 

"and honorable women not a few." 

[And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by 
night unto Berea, who, coming thither, went into the syna- 
gogues of the Jews, who were more noble than those in Thesa- 
lonica in that they received the word gladly and searched the 
Scriptures daily, whether these things were so; therefore many 
of them believed, also of honorable women, which were Greeks, 
not a few.]— Acts xvii:10-12; xiii 50; xix:19. 

"This is a precious book indeed 
Happy the child that loves to read; 
It's God's own Word that he hath given 
To show our souls the way to heaven;" 
Thus said the boy who held the book 
Before his loving mother's look 
Of holy joy, like Jesus' face 
When granting earth his truth and grace. 

This scene, then sacred in the city school, 
And rural districts, where the right did rule. 
Was born of distant Bible-reading days; 
Such as the sage Apostles saw to praise; 
And we look back with buoyant love to find 
Those ancient women to this work inclined, 
Scriptures to search to see if things be so. 
The noblest of foreknowledge thus to know. 

*'Women so honorable" and so blessed, 
^'Were nobler" far than those in fashion dressed; 
Who, "busy-bodies" went about for news; 
Whose very superstitions spoiled their views; 
And, though devout, their visions were disturbed 
Till cruelty their kind intentions curbed. 
Their bad devotion did good men abuse. 
And the true faith of God with guilt refuse. 

But Greeks and Hebrews Holy Bibles* had — 

To "search their scriptures" — whether good or bad — 

In men and women, and both age and youth. 

Betokened Faith trying to find Truth! — 

More "honorable" motives far, 

Than to win fame upon the fields of war. 

Impelled those patterns in the mind of Paul 

Who said "the scriptures should be searched by all!" 

A law made binding by our blessed Lord, 

■"Search well your scriptures;" they will search reward. 

* The ancient's "Sacred Scriptures" were their Holy Bibles. 
Some women of rank then were readers of such writings. 



70 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

EUNICE AND LOIS AND THEIR USEFUL LIVES TO ALL LANDS. 

[I thank God when I remember the unf eined faith that dwelt 
first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am 
persuaded in thee also, and that from a child thou hast known 
the Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation 
through faith that is in Christ Jesus, who hath commanded 
all men, saying: Search the Scriptures, for in them ye find 
eternal life, and they testify of me.]— John v:39; II Timothy 
1:3-5; iii:15. 

The ones above all others, 

Beneath the azure dome, 
Are ijure cind pious Mothers, 

The mistresses of Home; 

Delighted with their duty, in body, mind, and grace, 
Their trinity of beauty doth glorify the race. 
'Tis cause for real thanksgiving in all our happy land, 
That more than any living, these as our bulwark stand; 
For in their chastened features our children tind the 

truth. 
And they're the kindest teachers of the country's ten- 
der youth; 
The purest of preceptors, they're patient, apt and mild. 
And teach to know the Scriptures, as Paul said, from 

a child; 
So wisdom to salvation by knowledge of God's word 
Shall prosper long our nation, as peojjle of the Lord. 
Pause ye before such pictures! One says: "I can't 

forget 
When /first saw the Scriptures, for I can see them yet. 
They stood before my Mother, the Bible on the stand; 
Beside me stood my brother and on us both, her hand 
Was put, as if caressing — 'twas this and more than this; 
For with it was her blessing and many a tear- wet kiss; 
She used to read with feeling one chapter every day^ 
And then, between us kneeling, she bowed with us to 

pray. 
She felt that God was speaking, ivhene''er she read 

that Book. 
And once her heart seemed breaking — I can't forget 

her look ! — 
'Twas some day inDecemb'r,the enow danced in the air. 
And, as I well remember, she laid a lock, so fair. 
And white as a lace curtain, within that Book with care, 
And now I am quite certain it was her Mother's hair. 
Whose Bible name was "Lois;" she had but lately died. 
And all of her I know is, that Bible was her guide 1 



WOMEN OF THE BIBLE. 71 

"the elect lady" of all lands. 

[The elder unto the elect lady and her children whom I 
love, and not I only, but also they that have knovs^n the truth, 
grace be with you, mercy and peace, from God the Father, and 
from the Lord Jesus Christ. I rejoiced greatly that I found 
thy children walking in the truth, as we have received a com- 
mandment from the Father. The children of thy elect sister 
greet thee. Amen.]— II Epistle of John— Read it all. 

"The Elect Lady" of all the lands, 

In the Jolianian ideal, 
A stately, moral beauty stands, 

A very model, live and real; 
Her body's form and health the best. 

In which to live and act and love; 
Her home, fit for a heavenly guest; 

Her faith begotten from above; 

Her being, life and beauty, blent in one 

Majestic woman, modeled like the bride 
Of the world's Savior, "standing in the sun" — 

A princely object — she's earth's joy and pride I 
She's not a nun, nor yet a wordling vain. 

With daft idolatry of dress to do. 
In her domestic realm, how she doth reign, 

A loyal Wife, and loving Mother, too! 
The best of human beings that hath been. 

Her children are like her, devout and chaste. 
Her hospitality to holy men, 

Whose precepts will neither oppress nor waste. 
Is worthy of her wisdom, worth and Savior; 

In faith a Puritan of the first water. 
Like wise John Adam's wife, she winneth favor. 

As if she were indeed Neiv England's daughter. 



The Word of God as its last view of woman 

Gives this loved, princely "lady, elect, precious," 
So needful to a nation and true man. 

So stern against the stupid and the vicious; 
Dear old Saint John in Jesus' name addressed her. 

And he states fairly her whole truthful story. 
And every age and land hath loved and blessed her. 

For she hath filled them with their fairest glory; 
So be her name and fame made known forever. 
By grateful hearts to God, in Christ, the Giver! 



ri ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

SAINT AGNES. 

[This beautiful Christian girl was of Patrician rank, born in 
290, at Rome, and suffered martyrdom when only sixteen years of 
age under the edicts of Diocletian. When she espoused Chris- 
tian ity the magistrates determined to make her a vestal virgin 
in a heathen temple, but she taught them Christian truth, and 
refused to burn incense to idols, saying: The Son of God whom 
you curse will take care of me. If you only knew who my God 
is, you would not dare sentence me to death. There is but one 
God, and he it is whom Christians adore.]— Read Danial iii:12, 
etc.; I Timothy iv:3. 

There is much said about this maid 

That's felt to be apocryphal, 
And is to us of far less aid 

Than if true faith could feel it all; 
And yet we find one central fact, 

So fundamental and so fond, 
We would her wisdom re-enact. 
In our own time and times beyond. 
Not what hale monks and maidens have all meant, 

To make her a mere monumental nun! 
For this could not be their Christian intent; 
'Twasp«go7« people purposed to make one 
Of her; but she so faithfully refused, 

That for this fact her faith was then defied. 
And by the basest Roman power abused; 

The damsel under Diocletion died. 
This fearless wisdom, that would face the will 

Of wicked persecutors of the young, 
Was biblical, and well the Bible still 

Doth teach its lessons in each land and tongue. 
And hence, that a Patrician pagan turned 
To God for saving grace in his dear Son, 
And was beheaded or was even burned, 

May oft have been — and I believe 'twas done! 
The Hebrew boys, that were in Babel burned, 

Accorded well with all Saint Agnes' acts 
That are laid bare and were from Bible learned; 

Such faith inspired is equal to such facts; 
Hence, as Germanicus,* for Jesus' sake, 

Fought with the lions and fed them his life. 
This pious girl was guiltless of mistake 
■ Who'd die ere be a nun or heathen's wife! 
No maiden now should vestal vow e'er make, 
But stand, like Agnes, either sword or stake! 

* Young Germanicus was cast to the wild beasts under Trajan- 



SOME 

BIBLE WOMEN 

WHOSE CHARACTERS WERE FORMED 
BY READING THE BIBLE IN FAM- 
ILY WORSHIP, OR INDIRECTLY 
BY ITS INFLUENCE. 



A NOTE OF EXPLANATION. 



Thus far the reader has followed the female characters 
found recorded in the family Bible. We now shall notice some 
of the excellent examples which have since been evolved by 
biblical influence. These will include some papal illustrations 
which are secondarily secured by so much of the Bible spirit as 
still remains in that ritualistic body. We cannot, however, 
fail to see the superior civilization of Bible reading Republics 
like ours when compared with the merely ritualistic ones else- 
where on this continent and in Europe. The following from 
the famous French Priest, Pere Hyacinthe, suggests what 
should be said 

UPON THE POWER OF THE BIBLE: 

"Do you know why Prussia triumphed in the field of battle 
with Austria? It was not because there was a lack of bravery 
on either side; but it was because the assailant was better edu- 
cated than the assailed, and had a superior religious training; 
it was because every Prussian soldier had a Bible in his cap or 
helmet. In other places T have asserted, and I assert again 
here, that what constitutes the strength of the Protestant 
nation is that, when the people come home from their work, 
they enter t he family circle, and sitting by their hearths read 
the Bible and their national poetry. We (France) are behind- 
hand with Protestant nations, and especially those who dwell 
beyond the Atlantic and the Straits of Dover. Twice have I 
trodden English soil; and I have come to the conviction that 
the strength of that country is from the Bible." 

We may add: From Saint Augustine's Mother down to our 
day in America, Bible reading has produced the ablest and best 
maternal characters, that have molded and strengthened per- 
sonal worth and public welfare. Hence we say of our family 
Bibles: "By their fruits ye shall know them!" 



BIBLE WOMEN. 73 

SANTA MONICA, SAINT AUGUSTINE'S MOTHER. 

[Santa Monica, wife of Patricius, a pagan nobleman, was 
born near Carthage, Egypt, A. D. 332. She bore her distin- 
guished son Aurelius Agustinus at Agasve in 354, and trained 
him so well in Christian truth that he became the ablest of the 
Latin fathers and one of the best biblical writers and teachers 
ever born of a woman. His tributes to his Mother show that 
he owed all his usefulness and honors to her. and that he kept 
the fifth commandment with filial pride and care. He boasts of 
her "knowledge of the Bible."]— See Exodus xx:12. 

I saw once, in the silence of night, 
The heavens held open to view, 
And my visions, most vivid and bright, 

Made known many names that I knew; 
And some from the centuries past 

Appeared in apparel so bright. 
And constant effulgence so cast, 

They looked like the Lord in his light! 
Santa Monica stood them majestic among. 

With a multitude mingling in worship and praise. 
That to Jesus they sung in each language and tongue, 

Adoring his ways as the Ancient of Days! 
Her multiplied seed, born of her mighty soul, 

Seemed singing their Savior with solemn delight — 
And such noblesse of soul had their numbers that roll, 
That I ne'er can forget what I felt on that night! 
"The City of God,"* by Augustine, the saint, 

Seemed a book (save the Bible) the best ever bound; 
Its pages had pictures no mortal could paint; 

And their faith, like Apostles', is perfectly found. 
He saw in his soul, too, "Original* Sin" 

Had led him astray and estranged him from heaven. 

But by faith in Christ's work did his new birth begin, 

And that faith unto life e'en beforehand is given. 

His "Confessions," concerning his faults and his faith, 

Seemed unto biography's saintship so sure 
That the angels loud said, as of Saul : "Lo, he prayeth !" 

And each paragraph pa nted, itself, to be pure. 
•'Perseverance of Saints"* and "the Grace of our Lord," 

"True Religion"* in Life, Revelation and Truth- 
All grounded in Wisdom of God and his Word — 

Made amends for mistakes of his morals in youth; 
So Saint Monica's faith to her eon did afford 
The most heavenly message my ears ever heard — 
And how wondrous forever will be her reward! 

* The names of some of Saint Augustine's many works. 



4^ ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

KATHRINE VON BORA, THE BRIDE OF AN AUGUSTINIAN MONK — 
MRS. MARTIN LUTHER. 

[KathrineVon Bora was of an illustrious family, but entered 
a. convent as an orphan. Afterward, believing her vows of cele- 
bacy were contrary to the first law of God in Eden, she married 
the Augustinian Monk, Martin Luther, of like mind, who 
became the Apocalyptic Angel of the Reformation, and ascribed 
much of his moral peace and power to this pious and prudent 
woman. Their wedding ring bore the date January 29th, 1499.] 
— Read Revelations x. 

Th' Apocalyptic saint foresaw 

"An angel stand on sea and land," 
Holding aloft God's holy Law 

Which he held "open in his hand," 
In form and look "a little book," 

A pocket Bible, to be read. 
Which by its shock the nations shook, 

Till with its light the world is led! 

That mighty angel — though a mortal man — 

Seemed sent from heaven, clothed in a haloed cloud, 
And 'ere his Bible-reading-homes began 

Seven thunders, voice-like, sounding thick and loud, 
Said: "This dark time, so long, let it now cease!" 

The bow of hope is bending high around; 
Ev'n persecutions shall prepare for peace; 

For "sweet to taste" will "God's sv/ift word" be 
found. 

But those that read it will bring terrors' reign, 

Which hosts of martyrs shall hereafter make. 
So Bible-readers soon have bitter pain; 

For church and state shall chain them to the stake! 
As Luther led the Lord's own brotherhood, 

Who took that "little book" to British isles, 
God's angel over sea and land he stood — 

And smoothed his way with KateVon Bora's smiles. 

To be the bride of one so bred and brave. 

And help his fame and heavenly influence, 
Were a commission any queen might crave. 

Above earth's highest, best inheritance. 
And when reformers, with their faithful wives, 

In heaven, hereafter, each with halo crown. 
Look back delighted with their Bible-lives, 

They will as one, then, Kate Von Bora own, 
With thanks to God that her good thought survives, 
And that good helpmeets still God to his servants gives. 



BIBLE WOMEN. 75 

ANNIE ASKEW, A BIBLE READER, BURNED. 

[This English woman was burned at the stake in 1546 for 
reading the Bible, and believing her Heavenly Father would help 
her understand it. After trial before several tribunals she said: 
"They put me to the rack; because I did not groan, my lord 
Chancellor himself drew the pulleys till I swooned, and when I 
revived, he said if I would change ray faith I should want for 
nothing, but if not I should go to Newgate and there be burned." 
At the stake, too, she was offered the favor of the king for a 
change of faith, but said: "I have endured too long now to 
deny my Lord !"]— Charlotte Elizabeth. 

More strange than fiction is this fact! 

Such martyrdoms were much foreseen; 
Were also witnessed in the act; 

And history's care hath writ them keen 
And they are kept in sure archives — 

The consciences of all mankind, 
Where our Lord's death forever lives^ 

Impressed upon the public mind! 

Then, let us look at that lord Chancellor, 

Who stretched those pulleys with his pious strength 
To force this female "to Ms faith defer, 

And live forgiven by her king at length." 
He thought he did good service to his God! 

So bloody was his willful, blind belief. 
That he resorted to Heaven's sovereign rod 

To rack this groanless woman into grief 1 

Such usurpation of her pious right 

To read her Bible and obey its rules. 
And live in its kind, loving. Christian light — 

Scarce lees than the skilled learning of the schools. 
Hath never been surpassed beneath the sun — 

Though often doubled when the age was dark! 
We dread to read the dreadful deeds then done; 

But on mankind they've burned their dev'lish mark! 

It seems incredible such crimes to see. 

Such torture sent on such a tender saint. 
To rob her life of right and liberty, 

And 'tis not possible such power to paint! 
It contrasts with the kindest words of Christ, 

Which Ann Askew, in kindness uttered, when 
The iron chain was hot about her waist. 

And she moaned prayers for princely, murdrous men, 
Then hied away on happy wings in haste. 
The contrast joys of heaven to keener taste! 



76 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE BIBLE-HATING "WOMAN ON THE SCARLET BEAST"— BUB N- 
ING A BLIND ORPHAN BECAUSE SHE LOVED THAT BOOK. 

[I saw a woman on a scarlet beast full of the names of blas- 
phemy, and she was drunk with the blood of saints, the mar- 
tyrs of Jesus, and I wondered greatly. — The last English martyr 
was Joan Waste, a poor, blind orphan girl who had earned a 
Testament by knitting and got a man imprisoned for debt to 
read it to her.]— Revelation xvii:6; and England's Martyrs, 
Charlotte Elizabeth. 

One cold and misty morn in March, 

With my kind Derby host I stood 
Upon that spot, beneath the arch 

Of England's sky, in reverent mood, 
And heard the tale that here is told 

Of that blest maid, both poor and blind. 
But worth her weight in burnished gold, 

For moral wealth within her mind. 

'Twas "bloody Mary" sought this maiden's blood, 

And fitting the last faithful one to fall 
Should be a woman, guileless, weak and good 

And blind — to cap the climax of them all! 
And this the judgment — "Joan Waste 

Is sentenced (for the love of Truth) 
To be led forth and burned in haste, 

In spite her sex, blind orphanage and youth!" 
I stood and studied, in the damp, chill air. 

The hour this poor blind orphan girl was burned; 
I watched the flames that wafted up her prayer. 

And o'er her spotless youth my spirit yearned. 
Poor Roger rose to view, and hand in hand. 

Clung bravely to her with her brother's heart 
As long as the hot flames his flesh could stand. 

Then with desire he watched her soul depart! 
I stood there silent, thrilled with solemn thought. 

While my good host portrayed before his guest 
The timely lessons that last scene hath taught 

Till England, stained with blood, stands washed and 
blessed; 
Her Church soon rose to life from such saint's death ; 

The state awoke the study of God's Word; 
To brother's love were brought both life and breath, 

And "Free Speech" lives, "the spirit of the Lord;'* 
The blind there see what their blest Savior saith. 

And joyful worlds are Joan Waste's award — 
While she who rides the scarlet beast 
Will in the last be found the least! 



BIBLE WOMEN. 77 

"SAINT ELIZABETH, OF HUNGAKY." 

[Elizabeth of Hungary, daughter of King Andrew II, and wife 
of Louis Landgrave, of Thuringia, was born in 1207 ; married 
in 1221, and died in 1231. Her husband fell as a crusader, six 
years after marriage, leaving her with four children to well 
educate. She was one of the most devoted self-martyrs to tliat 
asceticism which Luther, when a monk, practiced. Of the 
pious legends of the midtlle ages hers are the most interesting 
and instructive. Several queens and great benefators were her 
descendants.!— Read I Corinthians xiii, and Charles Kingsley's 
"Saint's Tragedy." 

The beauty of the balmy flowers 

And fragrance of the fall-grown fruit, 
That ornament the morning hours 
And autumn suns so timely suit, 
Are not more tittiog nor more fair 

Than lasting beauties of a life 
That beams with praise, embalmed with prayer, 
And warmed with fond love of a wife. 
* 
And when that wife a faithful mother stands, 

Transmitting life and truth along a line 
Of lofty womanhood to other lands. 

With deeds and virtues w^onderful, divine. 
Both chaste and beautiful from childhood's birth, 

Till vast dominions mourn o'er their demise. 
Then, useful aims and acts for all the earth 
From their reflex examples freshly rise. 

Just so, it is believed, "Elizabeth, 

Of Hungary," enriched the human race; 
From infancy, indeed, until her death. 

Her beauteous life laeamed full of loving grace. 
She helped to teach the poor the paths toward heaven 

Which blend in love divine all who believe. 
Till God's assurance unto them is given, 

"It IS more blest to give than to receive." 

So both the balm and beauty of her sex 

Became renowned 'mong nations of mankind, 
Till life and pleasure seemed far less complex. 

And joyful faith in Jesus well defined. 
Hence every legend of her, in each land, 

Leans on some base of labors so benign, 
That — without miracles — wise men may stand 

And grateful commendations so combine. 
That they will grow in thoughts to things more grand. 
And her most Christ-like life shall love command. 



78 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

"saint" THERK8A, OF SPAIN. 

[This famous reformer of monks and nuns, was born at Havila 
of Castile, in 1515, and died at Alba, 1582. She was the sixth of 
twelve children, and could she have daily read the Bible, would 
have been one of the wisest reformers in the world. As it was, 
being many times forbidden from Rome to go on with her 
reforms, she counted it suffering for Christ, and cried: "Lord 
let me suffer or die!'' She wrote many books on "Love to 
God," etc., whinh being perverted led to such self-torture as is 
practiced by the pietist Flagelantes, etc., of Mexico and else- 
where.]— Read John xvi:33; Hebrews x:5-25. 

The heroism of heart and will, 

That moved this "mystic" in her zeal, 
Sends through the soul a sort of thrill. 

That forces faith to think and feel. 
The self-denials she sustained 

To imitate her Master's life, 
A Christly element contained — 

Yet struggled in a useless strife! 

Our Savior suffered that we should be saved; 

''He bore our burdens" (isa. .51:J:-6) and bids us believe 
That in his grace our names have been engraved. 

And full salvation all through faith receive. 
This the reforming Bible-readers found, 

And filled the world with their just faith and joy, 
Which bids man's righteousness the more abound. 

And the best plans of blessing men employ. 

But "Saint" Theresa — and her confreres too — 

Seemed seeking after life in sincere love. 
By means of what themselves must suffering do. 

To bear the burdens Christ hath borne above 
And buried in Heaven's bosom, to be borne 

No more, but pleaded there by all mankind — 
Th' atoning Savior would not have us torn 

Like Hindoos, his redemptive love to find! 

Christ did not crave his, death upon the cross; 

"Let this cup pass!" in cringing pain he saith — 
So love to tear one's life is utter loss; 

Fanaticism is not saving faith! 
Yet we esteem such sincere, yearning saints, 

Who sought such suffering as our Savior's was. 
Came to his utter wants without complaints, 

And coveted death, even, for his cause. 
Still, one well grieves, and sometimes weeps to see 
So great, itJiscriptural, vain agony. 
That truly looks like prolonged "tragedy!" 



BIBLE WOMEN, 79 

MADAM JEANNE GYON, THE GODLY MYSTIC. 

[Madam Gyon — nee Jeanne Bouviere de la Motte — was born 
in France in 1648. At sixteen she married M. Guyou whose 
name she bears, and by whom she liad five children. She wrote 
many hymns, and was long in prison for her devout meditations 
and evangelical missions. She died in care of her son at last, 
saying in the words of her hymn: 

"I would love thee, God and Savior, on thy love my heart is set: 
I will bless thee, and will never my Redeemer's blood forget."] 

—Read Acts xvi:l()-36. 

WHILE IN PRISON SHE SANG: 

"O thou by long experience tried; 
Near whom no grief can long abide; 

Lord, how full of sweet content 

1 spend my years of banishment! 
While place we seek or i^lace we shun, 
The soul finds happiness in none; 
But w^ith my God to guide my w^ay, 
'Tis equal joy to go or stay !" 

'Twas so she prayed and did the Savior's prayer, 

Pursuing wisdom in his published Will, 
And in him whiling exile anywhere. 

Till Jesus did her fonts of joy all fill. 
In such repose I w^ould seek perfect rest, 

And gratefully to her bright garlands bring, 
And in such fellowship be also blest 

As her own prison songs of praise I sing. 

Ah yes; thou pure impassioned "pietist!" 

Whose peace and love taught Fenelon repose, 
Which John before, who leaned on Jesus' breast, 

Did so delightfully for all disclose. 
Permit me, in my distant time and place. 

Thy pious life of trust and love portray. 
Till others also grow into thy grace 

And say: " ^Tis equal joy to go or stay! " 

How strange that Priests and Popes imprisoned thee! 

And yet so precious proved their providence; 
It gave to men thy God-like ministry 

Of saintly suffering seen for ages hence, 
When Fenelon, like thee, for faith confined, 

Shall for his burdened cross wear his bright crown, 
And mingle the more gladly with thy mind. 

His shall add richness to thy high renown. 
And kings and bishops — all thy foes combined — 
Shall then find out thy faith was "gold refined!" 



80 ECHOES OP INSPIRED AGES. 

MADAM PAULINE GUIZOT. AND HIS PIOUS MOTHER. 

[Madam Pauline was wife of the French author and states- 
man, Francis Guizot. She, too, was an author, and wrote in 
1832: "I know affairs are dangerous, yet I am glad my husband 
is in office. Before our marriage, he asked me if I should ever 
be dismayed by the vicissitudes of his destiny. 1 replied that I 
should always enjoy his triumphs, and never sigh over his 
defeats." Guizot's father was beheaded for his fidelity, and 
his mother was a most wise and faithful woman.]— Read Acts 
xx:24 and Guizot's Civilization. 

Wise authoress of elegance and worth, 

Whose works rehgious were those read as well, 
Who bore sure signs of sacred second birth, 

And cheered thy husband where he chanced to dwell, 
Permit my muse to lisp these modest lays 

In honor of thy husband's faith and fame, 
Present, with his, these words in thine own praise, 

And hers, who bore and gave his life* and name. 

The mother and ijroud wife of our first president, 

Were like the spouse and dame of the savant 
Whose countenance illumined every continent. 

And breathed much blessing on his brother man. 
The Mother of Guizot, that made and gave her son 

His mind and Christly moral character, 
Was so like Mary, Mother of our Washington, 

That thine own happiness here praiseth her. 

Well done! In days that tried the truest women's 
souls! 

That Mother, then a w^orse than martyr made, 
When cruelty her consort's trying death controls. 

Leaned calmly on her Lord's consoling aid! 
Thou, too, didst stand beside that brave and stately son, 

Who felt throughout his firm and famous life. 
That all his worthy, noble deeds were nobler done 

For having his wise Mother and brave Wife. 

How beat that Mother's heart when he was yet a boy! 

He was her tried and tear-wet treasure then; 
And soon became of both, their solemn pride and joy, 

A magic master o'er the minds of men. 
God bless such Mothers and all such majestic brides! 

May the loved maidens, in this mighty land. 
Be as good consorts and as consecrated guides. 

That can the meads of Christendom command. 
And bless America and all mankind besides; 
With such the human race were blest whate'er betides ! 



BIBLE WOMEN. 81 

GRACE AGXIELAE, A GODLY JEWESS. 

[Grace Aguilar, daughter of Emanuel, from Jews of Spain, 
was born in Hackney, England, in 1816, but died in Frankfort, 
Germany, in 1847. She could not speak for some time before 
her death, but, like Charlotte Elizabeth, used sign language, 
and said at last: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." 
She wrote two volumes on "Women of Israel," a poem called 
"The Magic Wreath," "Home Influence," "Mother's Recom- 
pense," etc.]— Read Job i and xiii and Isaiah liii. 

I have once read two handsome tomes 

By Grace Aguilar' s Hebrew pen; 
Two books wel]-tit for Bible-homes, 

Nor more for "women" than for men. 
This semi-Christian Jewess said 

She "got her wisdom from God's word." 
Both Old and New she often read; 

And in them both she found her Lord! 

Such Jews have "sat at Jesus' feet," I ween; 

Isaiah tells of Him who bore our sin; 
And running o'er his lines they "read between" 

Where Incarnation doth with Christ begin. 
So Grace Aguilar — though she knew it not — 

Grew to such oneness with the great "I am," 
That "things of Christ" were in her constant thought, 

And bred her his choice child of iVbraham. 

Then "Christless Hebrew!" I have hope of thee. 

That thy Messiah will yet mean my own; 
That thou wilt so, this, my Immanuel see; 

For God Incarnate can for both atone ! 
Come, then, consider whether this be Christ; 

The one your Prophets did predict as said; 
Come, for his Holy Spirit can assist 

To find redemption in what you have read! 

"The gospel of Ezekiel and Isaiah" 

Is that by Matthew, Mark and Luke and John; 
For the most ancient faith's foretold Messiah, 

And Jews find Jesus, if they'll follow on. 
Oft faithful Hebrews have been fond of me. 

Because I am a Hebrew^ in my heart, 
And, Grace Aguilar! I grow fond of thee, 

And liope that thou hast passed to Mary's part. 
To taste Redeeming Love eternally. 
And "God thy Savior" there forever see! 



82 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

PRINCESS LOnSA, PRUSSIA'S PIOUS QUEEN. 

[Princess Louisa, of Hanover, and mother of Emperor Wil- 
helm, of Germany, and Charlotte, empress of Russia, was bom 
into a large family in 1776 and died in 1810. She married Fred- 
rick William, king of Prussia, and bore him six children, of 
whom she wrote: "I daily pray to God that he would not take 
his good Spirit from them. In all our trials (with Napoleon) I 
am consoled with the thoughts that we have fallen with honor, 
and our fate is in the hands of God. I am to-day reading that 
beautiful and to me most precious 

One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Psalm."] 

Louise, once on the loftiest height 
(Schnee Koppe, .^),000 feetl 

Of Germany, was filled with joy; 
Having half Europe in her sight, (August 18, 1800) 

And heaven's warm light without alloy. 
Leaned on her spouse, his loyal wife, 

She looked around, then looked above, 
And spake: "Lo! this best spot in life! 

Here God is light, and God is love." 

This heavenly homage of that human heart 

Flowed down on lands afar, and did reflect 
Her power to sustain a sovereign's part, 

Which won all nations to well-known respect. 
Her people loved her for her power to lead 

Their humble hopes up to a higher sphere; 
And when she ruled that "all God's word should read," 

They vied her every verdict to revere. 

When, too, her triple beauty everywhere 

Did with its sweetness the world's anthems swell, 
Perhaps no queen — not Esther asking prayer — (iv:16) 

Did win earth's admiration due so well. 
She was, first, lovely in wise, faithful life; 

Hence, so refining in her faith and state; 
Yet showed such strength to share the ills of strife, 

'Twas well the world would on such women wait! 

O what a chapter and what "chances" hers! 

When Emperor Napoleon knew no law. 
Faith's "sovereign providence" she so prefers. 

He proudly from her presence did withdraw — 
But led his way, by war, to long exile. 

To ruminate on ruins he had wrought; 
And when his lengthened loneliness did while, 

The contrast tersely every country taught; 
Till smitten lands all on Louisa smile. 
Whose goodness 's greater than Napoleoiis guile! 



JBIBLE WOME^T.- 
VICTORIA, EMPRESS OF INDIA AND ENGLAND'S QUEEN. 



83 



[Victoria, of the house of Hanover, heir of Mary, Queen of 
Scotts, James the I, George III. and Duke of Kent, was born 
May 24, 1819, and married Prince Albert in 1S40, by whom she 
had nine children. She was crowned June 28, 1838, and when 
she was previously notified at night that the throne of Grveat 
Britain was hers, slie said to the prelate informing her: "I ask 
your prayers!" And then and there they knelt and prayed; and 
in every country for over half a century, whenever an English- 
man has heard her name, he has felt to say: "God save the 
Queen!" J— Read Esther ii:17-19; iv:16-17; Psalms cxvi. 

"God save the Queen;" "long live the Queen!" 

Has been the prayer, both night and day, 
Where'er a subject has been seen, 

And her proud people paused to pray. 
For lifty years they've sung that song: 

"God save the Queen;" "long live the Queen!" 
And still that prayer they still prolong; 

"Long live the Queen; God save the Queen!" 

"The sun doth never set upon her realm" 

(Is often said) so her fond subjects say, 
And hold that God himself doth guide the helm 

Of all such countries as his cause obey; 
That as past deeds that cannot be undone, 

May be o'erruled, as they have often been, 
So will Victoria's reign, a virtuous one, 

Seem providential more than that of men. 

The English Language and the Law of God 

Have helped "Her Majesty" hold on her way; 
Heaven's benedictions both have borne abroad 

And swelled the grandeur of her growing sway. 
Nor as a sovereign is she seen, alone; 

As maiden, wife, and model mother, too. 
Among the nations she's with honor known, 

And has been trusted as both wise and true. 

The mother of a numerous progeny, 

Nine children by one pious "Consort Prince," 
She's honored first the ideal family — 

The wisest virtue woman can evince! 
And since her office is somewhat a "form," 

Herself "a figure-hend" in high affairs, 
Mid all the "haughty form" her heart is warm. 

And well she's given God's will to her own heirs; 
And if her offspring to her throne they bring. 
They still will sing : "God save the Queen" or "King !" 



84 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

RAMAB.U:; REBORN BY THE ENGLISH BIBLE. 

[This remarkable woman described herself, to an American 
reporter, in this way: ''My name is Ramabai, a 'Hindoo Lady.' 
I was born in southwest India. My parents were high caste, 
but died when I was sixteen. At ni^jeteen I earned my living 
by lectures on Female Education. At twenty-two I married an 
intelligent lawyer of lower rank whom I loved. This made me 
a social outcast, wliich would be hard to bear, if I were not a 
Christian. I believe in the religion of Jesus, and that the 
Word of God is good for women."— Read the story of the Queen 
of Sheba, I Kings x. 

How would you like to be Hindoos? 

In heathen lands have home and life? 
What would you gain, what would you lose, 

If you were there a widowed wife? 
What hath God's Word given women there? 

What will it give where'er it goes? 
What hath it wrought here, everywhere? 

It would the world win from its woes! 

Once Queen Victoria sent a vicious Queen 

Of Madagascar this majestic speech: 
"Dear Sister: Take this Book and 'twill be seen 

The truths of life and peace and joy to teach. 
The women of my realm it hath made wise; 

It will make yours as wise, and kind, and true. 
So I present this precious, sacred prize; 

And know our God himself doth give it you!" 

As it made bloody druids meek and blest. 

That Bible made old Madagascar new; 
And bidding woman welcome its behest. 

It teareth idols down in India too, 
Till Ramabai in moral beauty's mold. 

Inspired for her dark sisters hefe to speak, 
Hath gathered hence our silver and our gold 

That she therewith may their sharp fetters break. 

Miy Ramabais expand their moral power 

Till heavenly light against all darkness hurled 
Shall bring millennium's bright morning hour; 

Heaven bless all women of the heathen w^orld! 
And may our sisters, sent across the seas. 

To plant the seeds of hope in heathen soil. 
Have living pleasure, thus their Lord to please. 

Till he shall be attentive to their toil, 
And shield away the shadows of disease, 
And fill their labors full of loving ease. 



BIBLE WOMEN. 85 

MADAM SUSANNAH WESLEY— "MOTHER OF METHODISM." 

[Mrs. Wesley was the youngest of Rev. Samuel Annesley's 
twentj-five children, and was born in London in 1669. She was 
the mother of nineteen childri^n herself, and often had at once 
the apostolic number around her feet for instruction. She 
felt honored by having so many lives from hers, and so many 
souls born into the heavenly family through her fidelity. Her 
spirit was more prolific than her body, even, Adam Clark 
said: "I have never seen, heard or read of her equal. I should 
call her a very able divine!"]— Read Psalms cxxvii:5. 

Prolific Mother of a power, 

That widens over all the world, 
And will until Time's latest hour! 

Thy faith its banner hath unfurled, 
The banner of thy power to bear 

Children of blood and spirit birth, 
Till millions moving everywhere, 

Now wave their tributes to thy worth. 

Aye, mother of the Methodistic mind, 

That moves upon the populace tlie most. 
And wakes the moral workmgs of mankind 

For human good, helped by the Holy Ghost, 
O what a power divine thou didst possess! 

For God was in thee with His power of good, 
And, blending with thee, did thy works all bless. 

And magnify thy grateful Motherhood! 

How grand the prospect of thy promised grace, 

When thou shaltsay: Here are my sons! and show 
The retinue that rises as thy race 

And grandly feels it will forever grow! 
So, wise Susannah Wesley! I will sing 

In honor of thyself and saintly sons; 
And to thy bright'ning name this tribute bring. 

Till we shall meet among heaven's "shining ones!" 

And yet 'tis not in power of tongue or pen 

To tell thy mead, as mother of the man 
Who voiced thy mind and motives among men, 

And placed thy graces in agressive plan. 
Till church and state cherish thy teaching still, 

Affiliating with thy ways of life, 
Inspired to help with all thy hope and will, 

And in the struggles of each moral strife 
Fighting thy fight of faith with force and skill. 
Till Christian zeal is croiv?ied on Zion's Hill! 



Ho ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

MISTRESS HANNAH MOKE. 

SThis charming woman, who never changed her name and is 
1 known as Mrs. Hannah More, was born at Stapleton, Eng- 
land, in 1745, and died in 1833. She was a lady of excellent cul- 
ture, character and authorship; was a poet, dramatist and prose 
writer of renown, and one of England's ablest and devoutest 
women. The following stanza will be found an average of her 
vigorous style of devout thought and feeling:] 

"Do not blame Heaven; 'tis erring man 

That mars his own best joys; 
Whose passion, uncontrol'd, the plan 

Of promised bliss destroys. 
The deadliest wounds with which w^e bleed 

Our crimes inflict alone; 
Man's mercies from God's hand proceed, 

His miseries from his own." 

This "maiden madam," like "the man of God," 

Beheld Jehovah in his bush of fire. 
And with her Maker on Mount Sinia trod 

And waked the w^orld with her devout desire. 
Her many writings by roused millions read. 

Helped make men better and their powers more blest. 
Till in all lands are some whose lives are led 

By "practiced piety" her pen posessed. 

Honored as mistress for her moral worth 

And mental taste and wisdom, too, as well. 
And born of Heaven before her human birth, 

Inspired the Holy Spirit's truths to tell. 
She taught all England with her ornate tongue 

Those solid words that suit all souls so well, 
In style so simple, yet so staid and young. 

That like the heavenly dew her letters fell, 

All sparkling with some special lucid thought. 

Imparting lovely beauty to pure life; 
She to all lands a living blessing brought. 

And strangely hushed the habitudes of strife. 
Through her long years she thrilled New England's 
shore. 

With her electric threads from heaven's throne. 
And helped the desert worship and adore. 

Till all are pleased her excellence to own. 
And men and maidens hail "Mistress Hannah More," 
And all her pleasures of God's grace implore! 



BIBLE WOMEN. 87 

CHAELOTTE ELIZABETH— MRS. TONNA. 

[Next to Hannah More stands Mrs. Tonna, better known as 
Charlotte Elizabeth. She was born at Norwich, England, and 
was Rev. Michael Brown's only daughter. She first married 
Captain Phelan, who died in 18:^7, and in 1841 she married Mr. 
Tonna, of London, and died there July 12, 1816. She was very 
deaf, and had to talk with sign language much of her life. 
Among her twelve books are these titles: "Judah's Lion," 
"Judea Capta," "The Siege of Derry," "Letters from Ireland," 
"Principalities and Powers," "The Convent Bell," etc.]— Read 
Joelii:28; II Thessalonians ii:l-ll. 

How many have, unmentioned, heard 

The matchless eloquence of mind 
Imbued with wisdom from God's word 

And been to better aims inclined? 
Could such in consciousness declare 

The source whence their salvation came, 
It might appear maternal prayer. 

Or ev'n some female author's fame. 

And these were influential o'er them thus, 

Becausethey,too,before, were wisely bred (i Tim. 1:5) 
In Goa's own Sacred Scriptures given to us. 

In written form — expressly to he read! 
And farther back, a Bible had been found, 

(Perchance in chains, because so scarce and cher- 
ished) 
And saints new-born had searched that "Bible bound,'^ 

And published it — or human hope had perished. 

Thus came the "trainers" in this Christian truth. 

And authors of exceeding excellence, 
Who taught wise years, as well as tender youth — 

And some, to pay the publisher's expense ! 
In labors such, few were felicitous 

Like Madam Tonna, who with pen and tongue. 
Was so devoted and industrious, 

She teacheth yet the aged and the young. 

How many works she wrote that were well read! 

What errors she rebuked with rugged skill; 
How lovingly the blind she blessed and led. 

And won all minds unto her Master's will. 
And when she shall have been for ages dead. 

Her standard works will ever follow still. 
With warmth and wisdom of both heart and head; 

The thinking world her words will always thrill. 
Long will be read what this "deaf woman" said; 
Her books are full of living faith and bread! 



»W ECHOES OP INSPIRED AGES. 

MRS. FELICIA HEMANS, FULL OF GRIEF AND GLADNESS TOO. 

[Mrs. Felicia Hemans — nee Miss Brown — was born in Liver- 
pool in 1794. She married Captain Hemans of the royal army, 
1812; was left by him, in 1818, to educate alone their five sons, 
and died at Dublin at the age of forty-one— praised by all that 
heard her songs, loved by all that praised her, and revered in 
every English-speaking land. She is best known in America by 
her matchless poem upon "The Landing of the Pilgrims."]— 
liead Psalms xliv. 

"The breaking waves dashed high 

On a stern and rock-bound coast, 
And the woods against a stormy sky 

Their giant branches tost; 
And the heavy night hung dark 

The hills and the waters o'er, 
When a band of exiles moored their bark 

On the wild New England shore. 

"What sought they thus afar? 

Bright jewels of the mine? 
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? 

They sought a faith's pure shrine! 
Aye, call it holy ground, 

The soil where first they trod! 
They left unstained what there they found — 

Freedom to worship God!" 

None but a ivoman, meaning nobly well, 

With nature charming, warm and chaste and wise, 

Could have attuned her harp such hopes to tell, 
And scale all human ills to heavenly skies. 

Beset by cruel arms imbued in crimes, 
And tempted by the adulating throng. 

She saw her furnace heated seven times, 

And yet emerged, unsinged, with joy and song! 

'Tis wonderful to watch her falling words: 

Like snow-flakes settling on a seething flood. 
Or music bursting from the beaks of birds; 

They melt unseen, like food into our blood! 
Her lines are "words of life" in works of love; 

Her pious theme heaven's purest thought imparts; 
God's Holy Spirit, bending from above, 

Delights to press them deep upon all hearts, 
And help the world to onward, upward move; 
Her prophesy our principles still prove. 



BIBLE WOMEN. 89 

JENNY LIND, "'THE SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE." 

[Madam -Jenny Lind Goldschinidt was born of poor Bible- 
reading parents, in Stockholm, October 6, 1820; married in 
Boston, February 5, 1852, Otto Goldschmidt, and died in Mal- 
vern, Englan(3, November 2, 1887, wept by everybody but her 
husband and his three children without musical talent. She 
was the sweetest songstress of earth, and had given in charity 
half a million dollars to the poor. Her earnest piety seemed 
the source of her supreme power.]— Read II Samuel xxiii. 
Psalms c. and 

The Last Sentence of Jenny Lind's Funeral, Song. 

"The crown of life she weareth; 

She bears the shining pahn; 
The 'Holy, holy!' shareth, 

And joins the angels' psalm. 
But we poor pilgrims wander 

Still through this land of woe, 
Till we shall meet her yonder. 

And all her joy shall know.'' 

I've heard the cuckoo, like a wand'ring voice. 

Fill earth with wonder, as it came and went; 
Have heard the song birds bid the heavens rejoice, 

And caught the anthems of each continent; 
And seated in the woods and near the sea, 
n Have heard wild notes waft heaven ward on the wind, 
But all combined cannot so heavenly be 

As the "bird songs" of "beaming Jenny Lind." 

Her voice seemed as the vocal soul of heaven, 

So truly pious were her well-trained powers. 
To Bethlehem's song God had a body given. 

As heaven's chief angel, she seemed here as ours. 
Herself born like the Babe of Bethlehem, 

Poor children shared her choicest patronage. 
And now her joy, in New Jerusalem, 

Shall sing for shining saints from age to age. 

She was impulsive in her pious art; 

She loved her parents and re-lived their prayers; 
Her passion was heaven's pleasure to impart. 

And lift poor Christians from their loads of cares. 
One time, when she was to a program tied. 

Her heart was so o'ercome with thoughts of home. 
She in a Christless song sat down and cried, 

Then rose so calm and sung, "Thy Kingdom Come," 
And then came down the high celestial dome. 
For, in that heavenly dome, there was her home! 



90 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, THE FAMOUS ENGLISH NURSE. 

[This Bible benefactress received her beautifal name from 
her birth in Florence, Italy (1819), and from her father Shores' 
inheritance of his grand uncle William iSIightiugale's name 
and fortune. Her well-known instinct for nursing seemed 
inspired, and her ample preparations providential. She 
started for the Crimea, October 24, 1851, and returned to Eng- 
land an invalid for life, September 8, 1856. Her example was 
an inspiring object lesson for American women in our late war, 
and will live long in every land.]— See Luke xxii:51. 

Our Savior, when he was betrayed, 

And Peter smote the servant's ear. 
Turned to the wounded man and said: 

"Suffer so far!" — and then and there 
He instantly the blood stain healed; 

The wound inflicted by the sword 
Was cured so well, it seemed concealed: 

Lo, such the sword, and such our Lord! 

Now, in His name fair Florence Nightingale 
Went to Crimea with Christ's wondrous word: 

"Suffer thus far!"— and then, with visage pale, 
Stretch 'd out Christ's hand and heal'd the cruel sword 

The world looked on, a loving wonderer. 

As she, at night, when all shone soft and still. 

Went thoughtful round (so roared "the Thunderer"*) 
To work the wonders of Christ's healing will! 

And thus her influence flew o'er the seas. 

And fired with love the folk in foreign lands. 
Till plenty sought, like her, to serve and please, 

Completely as the Prince of Peace commands; 
And so her gracious deeds shall ne'er grow dim, 

Her slender person, passing slowly round 
In hospitals, remindeth us of Him 

Whose bloody sweat once bless'd at night the ground. 

Her name has now the fragrance of the flowers, 

Is sweeter than the notes of singing birds, 
More beautiful than morn in Eden's bowers, 

More comforting than warmest of kind words; 
The glorious life of this glad, loving savior 

Of dying soldiers, can see dimness never; 
It shall shine full of heaven's divinest favor, 

A thing of beauty and a joy forever! 
And angels, bending from their heights above, 
Shall celebrate for aye such saving love! 

* The London Times, that thundered the good and bad things 
done in that war. 



BIBLE WOMEN 



OF 



AMERICA. 



BIBLE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 91 

THE CHRTSTIAN NURSES IN OUR COUNTRY'S NEED. 

[The women of America who went to the seat of war in 1861-5 
to nurse the sick and wounded on either side; to read their 
Bibles and minister comfort to them, and to write letters of 
consolation to tlieir friends, were among the noblest Bible 
women in the world, and will be lionored forever. "If all that 
has been said by orators and poets in the praise of women were 
applied to the women of America, it would not do them justice 
for their conduct during the war. God bless the women of 
America." —Lincoln.]— Read the Good Samaritan, Luke x:30. 

I've sat beside the dying beds 

Of "men in blue" and "men in gray," 
And pillowed on ray breast their heads, 

And watched their spirits pass away; 
But near me sat sorae noble saints 

Who'd done the same both night and day, 
And taught those dying in their tents, 

And promptly bowed by tJiem to pray. 

But as their faith had there both nursed and fed 

"Five thousand" bruised and faint and thirsty 
braves. 
And raised them up— till risen from the dead 

They left unfilled five thousand fancied graves, 
I said: These pious nurses never were surpassed; 

I can't conceive how Christ could have done more; 
They gave their lives to save lives to the last. 

And helped the dying even to adore. 

Their strength seemed lasting as the lengthened 
strife; 

Their patience equal to the suff' rer's pain. 
When lines were written to some loving wife 

That she'd ne'er see her children's sire again. 
Their pen was bathed in pity so benign, 

And wet with such warm, wise and tender tears, 
The distant widow deemed the words divine, 

And sireless youths have saved them all these years. 

saintly women! watching soldier's wounds, 
And wetting their parched lips with purest kiss, 

The beauty of your deeds doth know no bounds. 
Nor are there worthier acts in worlds like this. 

1 thus present this patriotic praise 

In Christ and my dear Christian country's name, 
And wish that country would a column raise, 

Enduring, fitting your undying fame, 
That, as the coming ages on it gaze. 
They will be wiser, better, for your ways! 



92 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE WOMEN WITH THE FREEDMEN— FOLLOWING THE WAR. 

[When oar army, under Lincoln's proclamation, freed the 
slaves to save the Union, some of our noblest young women went 
in the wake of the war to educate the freedmen and fit them to 
be useful Christian citizens; and yet these teachers of the ex- 
slaves were ostracised from white society in the South, and had 
to live among the ignorant blacks whom tbey came to bless and 
teach. Was woman ever more self-sacrificing, heroical and 
Christ-like!]— Read Luke vi:20-fO. 

Three million bondmen are made free! 

Dense darkness lingers in their dwelling; 
And that the light of liberty 

May not be lost, there needs the telling, 
The stating clear the startling story, 

How, from their past of pains and fetters, 
To find glad hopes of future glory 

By means of labor, light and letters. 

So when the soldiers, who had cut their shackles, 

Returned, they sent their sisters there to teach them, 
Till woman's tongue, that every wonder tackles, 

Rose equal to the task to quickly reach them. 
With wondrous wisdom, went these women there. 

To serve — as outcasts — in the Sunny South 
The slaves who had progressed slowly by prayer, 

And helped our men of war by word of mouth. 

Hence Freedmen, as a class, had a fresh claim 

Upon our friendship and our franchise rights; 
So, "two and two" these women teachers came 

And led them nearer to "the Lord of lights," 
Who looked down on them with delight and love. 

And when they say, "The devils from us flee," 
He adds, "Your outcast names are writ above;" 

They answer: "Lord! we do this work for thee!" 

'Twas thus these "outcasts" toiled and ex-slaves taught 

The truths of history, and truths of hope; 
Urged them to live and labor as they ought. 

And give their scant horizon grander scope; 
Till love of country, labor, home and wife, 

Grew up to gratify those who regret 
The strange imprudence of proslavery strife. 

The fall of kindred whom they can't forget 
And how the Nation had to use the knife, 
Like a safe surgeon loving to save life! 



BIBLE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 93 

THE WIDOW LEE, OF EAST TENNESSEE. 

[Early in the proslavery rebellion, Mrs. Mary Lee, a widow 
from East Tennessee, whose husband had been killed by the 
Confederates, came to a Union officer and asked a position for 
her only son as a drummer boy in the country's service. Her 
"Eddie" was bright and brave, and played so well that he was 
accepted, and soon beloved. But in his first battle he was fatally 
wounded, and said: "Tell mother I die that liberty may live." 
The spirit of this tale was true and inspiring!]— Read Gene- 
sis xxii. 

When Abraham clambered up Moriah, 

To symbolize God's given Son, 
And Isaac bore the wood and fire, 

'Twas like what Widow Lii:e hath done. 
'Mong mountains of East Tennessee 

Full many an altar may be found — 
Or cross of Christian Liberty — 

Where sacrificial boys were bound; 

Bound by strong obligations of belief, 

A sense of duty, which was so divine, 
That nought but God himself could give relief; 

A faith that shall through all the future shine. 
See Widow Lee, here, with her little son! 

They're searching for the scene of sacrifice; 
And what seems worse, he was her only one; 

Nor in their sight would less than this suffice! 

Behold them both, by this high duty bound! 

They've come to serve their country's sacred cause. 
The "grays" have sealed with his sire's blood the 
ground, 

And fought against God's fundamental laws. 
So Eddie bears with fiery zeal the wood 

That beats the call to battle in God's name; 
'Twas so the mother with war's weapon stood; 

So, too, the warfare soon ignites the flame. 

"Colonel!" she says, "take Eddie in your care! 

Dear Eddie! darling boy, adieu! good-by! 
I've promised you, my Precious! ceaseless prayer; 

Yet know, indeed, the Nation must not die!" 
With one embrace and kiss these patriots part. 

Soon Eddie drummed the soldier's on, till death 
Had pierced his hopeful, jjure and patriot heart 

And brain with horrid pain. His parting breath 
Was agony too keen for kindest art — 
Disloyal cannon fired the killing dart! 



94 ECHOES OP INSPIRED AGES. 

"the angels of buena vista." 

fAfter the battle of Buena Vista in Mexico, the Sisters of 
( harity and Mercy ministered to the wounded of both armies, 
and with unconquerable Christian devotion did what they 
could for their bodily and spiritual comfort. The poet Whit- 
tier wrote most eloquently of their humanity and piety. It is 
the Christly spirit, drawn from the Bible far back, that led 
them to their special work.] 

The "Quaker Poet" once portrayed 

A hostile nation's humane nuns, 
In simple raiment so arrayed, 

Their foes would feel they were safe ones. 
He saw them, too, on soldiers wait, 

And to the dying tend'ring drink. 
And guiding them toward heaven's gate 

With thoughts more kind than men can think. 

His benign women were so well behaved 

'''Buena Vista's AngeW'' is their name; 
Such blended suff 'rings, too, were by them saved, 

Both armies bowed obeisance when they came. 
For to both foe and friend they offered aid, 

And kindly fed them out of one canteen; 
Impartial watching unto all was paid — 

To sincere friends and foes they ne'er had seen. 

They pillowed soft each soldier's painful head. 

And washed with "oil and wine" his aching wound; 
They even wept over the unwept dead. 

And prayed for them with sympathy profound. 
For those bereft they bowed before the throne, 

And mingled pity wdth their melting prayer. 
That He who tasted death that doth atone 

Would comfort all, thus robbed, with his own care. 

By works so beautiful we're better made, 

Since love for suff'rers is lovely seen; 
So of such friends we cease to be afraid, 

By marking how becoming is their mien. 
And though we better like our Bible's love, 

And tremble lest their "cross" should "buy" their 
crown, 
Yet we believe we'll be with them above. 

And He who doth atone will have His own; 
Such duteous love He surely doth approve, 
If Christly motives to such crosses move! 



BIBLE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 95 

ISABELLA DE HERERA, "THE ROSE OF PERU." 

[Donna Isabella de Herera (Santa Eosa) was born in Lima, 
1586, and like Theresa of Spain was one of twelve children. As 
she grew to womanhood she was known as "God's Angel" in 
the dwellings of the poor Spaniards and the lowly huts of the 
poor Indians. The latter said: "Light shone from her pale 
features, and a fragrance not of earth flowed trom her gar- 
ments" whenever she visited their squalid dwellings — a poetic 
conception quite like Longfellow's "Evangeline."] — Read 
Exodus xxxiv:30 ; Acts vi:15. 

Once "Harvard's poat" well portrayed 

A holy, charming heroine, 
In robes of Normandy arrayed, 

And named his saint "Evangeline." 
Her motions seemed like minstrelsy, 

"Celestial brightness" round her shone, 
"Sunshine of Sainted Ulalie" — 

And by this name she was best known. 

So Donna Rosa, "Damsel of Peru," 

Moved with a beauty more ethereal, 
When from the Indian hovels she withdrew, 

With mien so meek yet ministerial. 
The poetr^y that thus portrayed her parts 

Among the poor, and the more rich and proud, 
Was like the harmony of loving hearts, 

With admiration thankfully endowed. 

Her person seemed of superhuman powers; 

Her love of God had lighted with His grace 
The flowing purity of "passion flowers," 

To fall like halo round her happy face. 
The Incas— "Children of the Sun," so-called — 

Now craved the knowledge of the name of Christ; 
Ancestral practices their souls appalled; 

And "Santa Rosa" they could not resist. 

So, named "God's Angel" by those ground 'neath 
cares, 

She was sought to by all in want and pain. 
And when her presence left, they felt her prayers. 

And said: "We'll never see her like again!" 
If I possessed such mem'ries 'mong the poor. 

For ling'ring halos to their hamlets lent; 
If with love's deeds Vd lighted thus their door, 

I could die, also, as she did, content. 
Bid memories so true be treasured ever more; 
Let Rosa of Peku pass into poet-lore! 



96 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

THE FAMOUS WORK OF TWO FRENCH WIDOWS AT QUEBEC. 

[From 1620 to 1624, Helene de Champlain labored, under the 
guidance of her noble husband, to teach various Indian tribes 
around Quebec. In 1639 came two young widows from France 
to take up and carry on her work. These were Mesdames Marie 
Guyort, born in Tours, 1600, and Madeleine de Chauveny, born 
in Normandy in 1603. These worked together for thirty years, 
until their death, 1671 and 1672. The Royal Charter of Massa- 
chusetts Bay professed the same desire to educate and save the 
dwindling savage tribes.] 

The seventeenth century arose 

With heahngr beams upon its wings — 
The wish to hft (from out their woes 

By w^ars and brutish wanderings) 
The savage tribes beyond the sea; 

And "Massachusetts Bay" dechired: 
"Our motive, Uke the ministry, 

Is that sparce Indian tribes be spai-ed!" 

There the apostle EUot proclaimed 

The words of God against their wicked ways. 
For which they were so well and badly blamed. 

And taught them precepts, prayers and tunes of 
praise. 
There the lirst Bible ever published here 

Was his translation of its holy truth, 
Which made him yearn more each declining year, 

That he might yet save every savage youth! 

"The Indian Territory" stands to-day 

A trophy of such Bible-training schools; 
And but for these the tribes had passed awny, 

As if but nations of both knaves and fools. 
'Twas Edwards, Brainard, and women as brave. 

Did Christian deeds no cahimny could smirch. 
Their savage brethren to bring home and save, 

Till they now cherish both the school and church. 

Nor were these peerless. Priests and Nuns as well, 

And saintly women, like those widows twain. 
Joined them, too, of Jesus' name to tell 

The savage races, ere they should be shiin. 
Such moral beauty, in so matchless beams, 

Shone 'mid the deepest shadows of the wood 
Upon the treeless plains and trending streams. 

And God beheld their work that it was good! 
Hence gladly sing such glorious sisterhood 
As in such mission stations meekly stood. 



BIBLE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 97 

MARGARET BOURGEOIS, FOUNDER OF INDIAN MISSIONS AT 
MONTREAL. 

[This organizer of Indian Missions was a French merchant's 
daughter, born in Troyes, in 1620. She commenced her Indian 
schools in a stable in Montreal in 165:5, but eventually started 
missions in Canada and several of the United States territories, 
and like Theresa of Spain, did much to inspire the founding of 
monasticism in America. She died at the close of the seven- 
teentli century, but is remembered among Catholics as Canada's 
early missionary.] 

America's heroic age 

Had scarce a native heroine 
More sacrificing, or more sage, 

Than 3Iiss BourzJtua, so brave, benign! 
She left her friends in lovely France, 

And sailed across the stormy seas, 
To save the savage, in advance 

Of death by wars and dire disease. 

Her monastry was the masterpiece 

Of her majestic missionizing thought, 
And prayers and purpose— like the Prince of Peace— 

That every savage be salvation taught. 
And yet her system could not yield success 

O'er such a hemisphere as Freedom's home. 
Where Bible-schools are better means to bless 

The rudest savages that used to roam. 

Monasticism is not American ! 

Nor loere our liberties e'er by it led ; 
But Freedom in those families began 

WJiere household-Bibles were by habit read! 
And hence the diff'rence has been here defined; 

The French Canadians coming on the North, 
Had not the notions of such home-taught mind. 

And Spaniards South brought not that spirit forth. 

The power to suffer for some useful end — 

Is well begotten by the Word of God, 
Till Liberty itself doth safely lend 

Its breath of life to other lands abroad. 
Hence papal countries— half republican — 

Espouse our institutions so inspired; 
But place not Bible-teachings in their plan, 

And so, develop not the strength desired! 
And more: ^^Our sacred Sabbath is for man," 
To be observed for good since time began! 



yo ECHOES OF INSriRED AGES. 

ameeica's bible women abroad. 

[Go ye into all the world and preach the gosp-^l to every 
creature, and lo, I am with you always to the end of the world. 
Princes shall come out of Egypt, EtUeouia shall stretch out 
her hands unto God. Sing praises to God, all ye peoples, for 
the truth of the Lordendureth forever, and the greatness of the 
kingdom under the who e heaven shall be given unto the saints 
of the most high.]— Read Psalms cxvii; Mark xvi:15. 

I gave a night to Siike El Oarh, 

(The place of a Druse massacre) 
Nor thought of danger to disturb 

Myself or my interpreter. 
"Mine hoste" was missionary Bliss; 

The hostess his wise, happy wife, 
And they narrated news like thip, 

At mention of their mission life — 

They said: "Our parents practiced household prayer; 

We read our Testaments all round in turn; 
And when we heard of heathen anywhere, 

Those Bible subjects in our souls d,d burn, 
And made us heed the cry from Macedon: 

"Come, dear Americans, and do us good!" 
So when 'twas known our hearts and hopes are one, 

A stalwart pair soon on steam-packet stood. 

"Now, here we are, well settled in our home, 

And everybody born among these hills. 
Has been inclined like our clan to become. 

Until our fellowship the mountain fills" — 
Such their remarks — They've since a college reared, 

At old Beyritus, sending clans abroad. 
Till now the dreadful Druses are not feared. 

And Mount Libanus lifts music to God! 

I had a mate— in i "Mistress Hiy" herself — 

Who set before me scenes among Sepoys, 
And showed me souvenir from their mission shelf 

That touched me with their untold tears and joys. 
And many thousand men and women more 

Have borne their cross to homes of cruelty. 
And plucked away the wants that we deplore, 

To plant, instead, pleasing civility; 
Until their truth is sharei from shore to shore 
And every land is learning to adore! 



BIBLE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 99 

America's bible women as home mission wives. 

["God setteth the solitary in families, and gathereth congre- 
gations thereof, and so preparetli of his goodness for the poor. 
The Lord gave the word; great was the company that published 
it. They have seen thy goings, O (jod, in the Sanctuary. The 
singers went before, and the damsels with instruments of 
music, saying: Bless ye God in the congregations, even the 
Lord from the fountain of Israel. And the Lord sent them two 
and two into every city and place wliither he himself would 
come."]— Read Psalms lxviii:(J-lU-24; Luke x. 

Behold that brave "Iowa Band," 

At stations waiting: for the stage 
To take them far to frontier hmd, 

That, moved by God, they may engage 
In mission work with moral will, 

And plant the rose of Sharon there — 
Behold them start; behold them still; 

Consider what they've caused, with care! 

Those women that went thus, as mission wives, 

Reared friendly families on the frontier; 
As Christian ladies, they encouraged lives 

In church and state of sterling worth and cheer. 
They and their husb;inds have with buoyant hearts, 

Established, strengthened all that's tit to stand, 
And sent forth power that everywhere imparts 

True living beauty in that bounteous land. 

And over other wastes, than Iowa, 

Have been produced by other praying bands 
The staunchest diction of statehood to-day 

That any commonwealth as yet commands. 
How many hardships, though, they have to slvire 

Where homes of spirit-happiness are sparce; 
How precious few have any faith in prayer. 

Where "scolding" rules, and all religion's scarce! 

Then see those women there, working so well, 

The helpmeets of those husbands, heaven moved! 
Yet till we're home in heaven, no one can tell 

How much their Lord and man they served and loved. 
Such Bible women sure have best renown; 

We need not write their names — "they're writ in 
heaven!" 
Where now the "Seventy" are named and known, 

Honored and loved as if of the "Eleven — 
Without such women workers in the West, 
Our institutions could not stand the test! 



100 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

YOUNG WOMEN AS BIBLE TEACHERS IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 

["Hear this ye old meia, and give ear all ye inhabitants of the 
land: Hath this been in your days, or in tlie days of j'our 
fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell 
theirs, and their children another generation, that it shall come 
to pass that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, saith the 
Lord, upon your sons and your daughters; upon my servants 
and on my hand maidens will I pour my spirit, and they shall 
teach my prophecy.]— Read Joel i:2; ii:27-29; Acts ii:16; Luke 
ii:40. 

"From a child to know the Scriptures," 

Was commended by Saint Paul; (n Tim. 3:1.5) 
"They make wise unto salvation" 

And God gives them unto all! 
Hence a million happy maidens 

Know them more than many a priest, 
And in Sunday schools now teach them 

To the largest and the least. 

Never, since the days of the Apostle, 

Were so many maidens searching truth, 
As approved by him in his epistle 

To young Timothy and other youth. 
They're rejoicing in the true religion, 

That has happiness and heavenly hope; 
Sending joy and singing to each region 

That prefers th' Apostle to the Pope. 

How the women, lads and winsome lasses 

Learn the Scriptures lately in all lands; 
Till large conclaves attend "Lesson" classes, 

And^the Bible-school our bulwark stands. 
Mingling social music, sacred message, 

With the wise cheer of warm childhood's voice, 
Chanting praises with each chosen passage^ 

Till ev'n rural regions all rejoice. 

How the voice of singing hails the valleys; 

Hallelujahs echo on each hill; 
As the Sunday school each section rallies. 

And seeks wisdom from our Savior's will. 
It is wonderful!— this way of Heavenly Wisdom, 

To supply the world's untutored want, 
And provide for people a full ransom 

Prom the powder of priestcraft and of cant. 
Lo! divine it is to live in this day, 
When true Wisdom saves the world in this way! 



BIBLE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 101 

IN HONOR OF MISS JUL,IA WRIGHT, A BIBLE -READING 
SCHOOL TEACHER. 

[''God appointed laws in Israel which he commanded our 
fathers to make known to their children, that the generation 
to come might know them and declare them to their children, 
that they might set their hope in God nor forget His works, but 
keep His commandments" (Psalms ]xxviii:l-,S). In obedience 
to this passage the people of "Western Reserve, Ohio," used to 
encourage Bible reading and recitations in school, and my first 
teacher, .Julia Wright, won many laurels in that way.]— Read 
Psalms lxxviii:l-y. 

Incredible 'two aid seem to be; 
Some folks then said he was a fool, 
Who followed "sister" far to school, 

When he'd not seen yet summers three. 

But her wise teacher's heart beat warm, 
Sh' addressed him "darling," at the door. 
His falt'ring feet helped cross the floor, 

With words which children always charm. 

She opened school with several welcome songs, 
And questions about quarrels anywhere. 
Or whether some boys had been heard to "swear;'* 

And so she righted several serious wrongs; 

Then Testaments were read all round the room. 
To lead to earnest, loving, useful life. 
To strengthen "peace on earth" and put down strife,. 

And change to gladness even childisli gloom. 

Then children prayed with cheer our Savior's prayer; 
This, while we stood, she helped us understand, 
And then commented on the tifth command. 

With clearest words its kindness to declare. 

Straightway the "darling" held with outstretch 'd hand 
Her pocket Bible bound up with a clasp. 
And not too great for his small hand to grasp. 

He said, ^vith fitting gesture, feeling grand: 

'•''This is a j^recions hook indeed! 

Happy the child that loves to read! 

'Tis God's oivn word that he hath given; 

To show our souls the ivay to heaveji!'' 
'Twas thus b^^gan his manhood when a boy. 
The bent of serious life was so begun. 
That he beholds the best he's ever done 
Was gendered by Miss Julia Wright's real joy, 
And till his short yet earnest life shall end. 
He'll call that Bible Miss his Blessed Friend ! 



102 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

MRS. EMMA WILLARD, THE WISE EDUCATOR. 

[Mrs. Emma (Hart) Willard was the sixteenth of seventeen 
children. She was born at Berlin, Connecticut, February 23, 
1787; began teaching at sixteen, and became one of the most 
renowned educators in the United States. She married Doctor 
Willard in 1809, and was left a widow in 1825, with their large 
Female Seminary at Troy, New York, in her control. She wrote 
many standard books, and in all her study and work, her appeal 
was to God's word for her standard and law. She died in 1870.] 
—Read cxix Psalms. 

To train up learners in the truth 

God sent from heaven his only Son; 
Therefore to educate our youth 

Is work divine if it's well done! 
Earth's greatest teachers are from God; 

All sciences are in his Soul; 
True teachers trace where he hath trod, 

And trusting, feel his full control. 

A statue of a stately Teacher stands 

Before me — made as if a beau-ideal 
Of Christian woman — one whom Christ commands. 

Impassioned to move minds by her appeal. 
And lo! the statue stands, a thing of life! 

Not tiling^ a female full of moving thought; 
A model woman and a model wife — 

A teacher true, whom heaven's own truth hath 
taught. 

A forehead high she hath; a firm yet happy face, 

That beams with finished beauty, wise and fair, 
And sheds a halo on the human race— ^ 

The princely halo of home's peace and prayer. 
Four States seem satislied for her to stand; 

Each ready to obey her real behest; 
Delighted, ev'n, to do as she'd demand, 

For all believed her biddings would be best. 

Her clear-cut sense had even a Clinton seized, 

The stalwart governor of his great state, 
Until her plans "His Excellence" so pleased 

Her college's chartered and incorporate. 
Parents afar perceive her faithful parts 

And send their daughters to discern her sense; 
They educate them in her useful arts 

And realize an ample recompense — 
For such return with so renewed, fond hearts 
Their every presence virtue's joy imparts! 



BIBLE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 103 

MISS FBANCES E. WltLAED, PRESIDENT OF WORLD'S W. O. T. TJ. 

[Miss Willard was born in Clmrchville, New York, September 
28, 1839: graduated at the Northwestern University, Evanston, 
Illinois, 1859; has been college professor and president, editor, 
tourist, lecturer and author, liaving publis^hed a touching 
tribute to her sister, entitled "Nineteen Beautiful Years," 
"Woman and Temperance," "How to Win," "Woman and the 
Pulpit," etc. She is president of the "Women's Christian 
Temperance Union of the United States," and of the "Women's 
Christian Temperance Union of the World," and on the plat- 
form she is mistress of the situation, and now without a peer 
in pleading and polemic oratory.]— Read II Kings xxii:14. 

It pleaseth me, in time and place, 
To see symmetric objects stand 
Where I can trace their lines of grace, 

Hewn out by nature's noble hand. 
I like to look on outlined art, 

And track minutely artist mind 
That is imprinted on each part, 
Till I can see the whole combined. 
I love to trace the outlines of a tree. 

That lifts its tons of timber toward the stars, 
Whose fruit and foliage add fresh symmetry, 

And bury even what its beauty mars. 
Well, such is Frances Willard 's living form, 
When standing poised upon a public stage, 
Without a scar or stain from wind or storm — 

The ablest woman of this wondrous age! 
We can't compute her motive power with men; 

Her message breathes upon the mountain's brow. 
None but our Savior's breath more sweet hath been, 

And I can see her crowned with glory now. 
Even angels mingle in her martial song, 

To wage for God and good her temp'rance war; 
To rescue woman from relentless wrong, 

And help the weak to win what Heaven fights for. 
This is her work, and she has done it well! 

She seems the helpmeet of that Sun in Heaven 
Whose beams descend where even drunkard's dwell, 

And God's sweet message is in mercy given. 
Hence, as we share her wisdom, watch it shine! 
From her rare form, fresh, resonant and fair, 
That seems, indeed, lit by some light divine, 

She radiates redemption everywhere. 
And crowns her beauty with Chrisfs acts benign! 
Let every clan to her live cause inchne, 
And their "good faith" advance her b'^st design! 



104 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

UTTERLY BEREFT— HOW AMERICAN BIBLE WOMEN CAN BEAR 
AND SUFFER. 

[Mrs. President S. H. Marsh, of Pacific University, Oregon, 
wrote me a most touching letter beside the corpse of her beau- 
tiful daughter, who liad just died. That and the experience of 
her near relative, Mrs. Daggett, who had also buried an only 
daughter, and gave birth to a child soon after its father's 
death, suggested this sympathetic song, in honor o£ our Chris- 
tian female faith and fortitude.]— Luke vii:ll. 

A woman sitting with her dead, 

(Pale beauty's perfect paragon) 
Bowed down her head on tlie death-bed 

And wept — a widow — all alone! 
Then turning round, to me she wrote, 

In touching language, laved in tears, 
This burdened, noble, burning note, 

That yearned out all her anguished years: 
"My grief's too great for pen or tongue; 

My only daughter lieth dead; 
Her ways so wise; in years so young! — 

Here lies her flesh; her life hath fled! 
Ten minutes since she said to me: 

'I hear a harping on the hills; 
But cannot tell v/hose it can be. 

Though it through all my being thrills! 
" 'It soundeth like some saint in light, 

Who's asking that I come to them; 
And, Ma! I see a sublime sight— 

A man divine with diadem! 
It's Christ! He's coming with a crown! 

Pray let me breathe this parting breath; 
Nay, let our Lord now lead his own; 

Adieu ! Dear Mother, this is death!' 
" 'Twas so she entered Jesus' arms; 

Supremest lover of her soul; 
He asked my child with all her charms, 

Yet kindly doth w ith me condole. 
She was a choice, post mortem child. 

Born my dear husband's burial day. 
When life and loss were mingled wild 

And I, a widowed moth3r, lay, 
As feeble as my infant bird. 

That nestled on its native breast, 
Yet I've ne'er wailed one wicked word; 

My grief and joy grow blent and blest; 
'My life I live with Christ my Lord!' " 



BIBLE WOMEN OF AMERICA. 105 

"AMELIA" C. WELBY AND FAMILY WORSHIP. 

[Mrs. Welby— j(ee Amelia Coppuck— who first published a 
book of beautiful poems over her given name, was born Febru- 
ary, 1819, in Saint Michael's, Maryland, near the banks of Chesa- 
peake Bay. She afterwards moved to Louisville, Kentucky, 
and died there. May 3, 1852. She was the author of some of tiie 
finest fioicies ever expressed in written speech, and her sacred 
songs seem often inspired by the Bible Psalmody in its best 
estate.]— Read Psalm cxxxix. 

O, how my boyish heart did bound 

With throbs that thrilled me through, 

When first "Amelia's" songs I found, 
That seemed so old and new! 

"I wandered out," she sang one night, 

" 'Twas when my years were few; 
The wind was singing in the light. 

And I was singing too. 
I heard the laughing wind behind, 

A-playing with my hair; 
The breezy fingers of the wind — 

How moist and cool they were! 

*'The evening hours like birds flew by, 

As lightly and as free; 
Ten thousand stars were in the sky, 

Ten thousand on the sea; 
For every wave, with dimpled face, 

That leapt upon the air. 
Had caught a star in its embrace, 

And held it trembling there. 

But list! Yon casement low and dim! 

Whose breath thence fills the breeze? 
It is a peasant's evening hymn, 

That sounds thus on the seas! 
The spirit oft, oppressed with doubt. 

May think God's out of thought, 
Yet who can shut His presence out, 

That Guest that comes unsought! 

"In spite of even cold resolves, 

Whate'er our thoughts may be. 
Still, magnet like, my heart revolves. 

And points, O Lord, to Thee! 
That heart's now filled with peace and prayer, 
For thou, my God, art everywhere." 



106 ECHOES OF INSPIRED AGES. 

MRS. VICE PRESIDENT MORTON, A PROUD BIBLE MOTHER. 

[The following is cut from a family journal: "Mrs. Morton, 
wife of the Vice President, says that she has done nothing but 
keep house and raise a family since she has been a married 
woman, and that her life fulfills her idea of complete happi- 
ness." Saint Paul says: "I will therefore that the younger 
women should marry, bear children, guide the house, give none 
occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully; for the Spirit 
speaketh expressly that in later times some will forbid to 
marry and command to abstain from meats, which God hath 
given to be received with thanks."]— I Timothy iv:l-4; v:14. 

It sometimes saddens us to sbb 

The decedence from other days 
When Bible-reading used to be 

Twice daily, with both prayer and praise; 
When ''^Scotia s songs''' so sweetly rose 
("Cotter's Saturday Night") 
And rang out on resounding air; 
Clear at day dawn as at its close, 
Preceding very reverent prayer. 
But let us stand by all that still is left, 

And state that Bible-altars still abound! 
Can we believe our country is bereft 

Of what our fathers have so useful found? 
No; o'er our Union, morning, noon and night, 

Is heard the voice of prescient household prayer, 
The breath of loving thanks for bread and light 

And our Creator's kind and constant care. 
Look at this picture, full of life and peace!. 

It's seen at risings, settings of the sun. 
Where Christian families feel their increase 

Of happiness is from the Holy One 
In answer to sweet orisons and joys. 

Such as once passed from dear parental souls, 
Where we were giddy, buxom girls and boys, 

Yet trained to conscience that our life controls. 
Full many millions of fond families 

Live painted in this picture of our land. 
Who've given each day to God their all as his. 

And with "Our Father" walked on, hand in hand! 
As Mistress Morton and Vice President 

Have mingled household worship here with heaven, 
Cherished their loving children to them lent 

And gladly thanked their God for all that's given, 
So, clear across this Christian continent, 
Such praying houses pictured heaven present 
And cause a w-ide-spread wisdom and content! 



Our Presidents' Wives, 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 



PREFATORY NOTICE. 



Our Presidents' Wives, Mothers and Daughters have (save 
one) been Bible-reading women, from their youth up; and so 
their excellence and strength of character have been superior 
and uniform. In portraying them in verse (to avoid imitating 
others) I have conformed the pages to my book on " Bible 
Women," and wrritten for both common and cultivated people, 
trying to teach alike ethic truth and esthetic taste, so as to enter- 
tain, instruct and elevate the diversity of readers. 

In politics the book is absolutely impartial; in religion it is 
unsectariau, in all things fair. It goes forth novi^ in the hope 
to help make American home-life happier, purer, nobler, because 
of the notable examples it gives at the head of the Nation, and 
the humble habitations vvrheuce they emerged into usefulness 
and honor. While the "poetical exaggerations" may be consid- 
ered too eulogistic generally, the teudencj'^ of these sketches will 
be to awaken a wider sympathy of society for the women provi- 
dentially exalted to high stations from among us and to increase 
our respect for all our own Christian people, especially if they 
be poor yet pious and patriotic. Mary Washington was hoeing 
in her garden in homespun, with a straw hat on, when L,aFayette 
called to bid her farewell, and she received him without chang- 
ing lier raiment. Nancy Lincoln and Eliza Garfield were peers 
in poverty, piety and virtue, and the number of widows' children 
elevated to Presidential office is indeed wonderful. As the Sign- 
ers of "The Declaration of Independence," the "Kramers of the 
American Constitution," and the men so far chosen as our Chief 
Magistrates, have been remarkably providential, so have their 
wives been divinely ordained and worthy; and if my readers 
will study their long line of succession as reverently as I have, I 
am sure they will arise from their reading the richer in personal 
ambition to be useful and resigned to the wise purposes of the 
world's Overruler. 

All women can't be Wives of Presidents; but they can fill 
some sphere — as humble yet as great as that of the Widow Gar- 
field in her cabin at the edge of her little cornfield. Then let no 
poor widow, or sorely-oppressed woman give up to despair in 
this day of great from small things. Remember how poor was 
the earth's infant Redeemer, and let the Mothers, Wives and 
Daughters of the great American Presidents inspire j'ou hence- 
forth to thank God and take courage. Our Christian people are 
kings and priests unto God. There are none wiser or greater 
the world over. God bless the Christian Mothers, Wives and 
Daughters of America. T. N. H. 

Denver, April, 1892. 



''MARY, MOTHER OF WASHINGTON." 

[Washing<^on's Mother may well lead the long- list of Bible- 
reading women who have, so far, borne and married our Ameri- 
can Presidents. She, as Mary Ball, was born in 1706, married 
widower Augustine Washington in 1730, and in 1743 '^^^ left a 
widow with six children. The oldest of these was George, a 
lad of twelve years, who read to her the Bible and "Sir Matthew 
Hale's Moral and Divine Contemplations." She followed her 
son with her daily prayers until he became President, when she 
died of cancer, in 1789.] (Read Ps. cxlvi, 9; Prov. xv, 25.) 

As "Mary, Mother of Washington" — 

The epitaph upon her tomb — 
Derives its signal from her son, 

Who was held "sacred from her womb," 
And rose defender of the right, 

Till all mankind's his monument, 
We look with reverent delight 

Upon her teaching his intent. 

The Mother of the Father of America 

Was left a widow; George, her oldest child, 
Was so well bred to her safe will obey 

Great Britain's grandeur ne'er the boy beguiled. 
He sat beside her, bearing in his hand 

A proud commission — the "midshipman's" pride— 
Which would have borne him where his native land 

Could never get his good, calm hand to guide. 

America, or England to prefer? — 

His Mother views this vast emergency, 
As if the widow's God was guiding her. 

To see and feel some future destiny. 
Maternal wisdom weighs his motives well, 

With head-and-heart-work of Sir Matthew Hale, 
Till sweet ambitions his obedience swell, 

And the "command with promise" doth prevail. 

(Eph. vi, 3) 

Their fervent piety — hers fed by prayer. 

His by her love — forever saved this land ! 
Whence let these always live thus everywhere; 

For the United States still on them stand. 
This nation lives by virtue of that law 

Of Faith, and Prayer, and Filial Piety. 
Th' endurance of old China had to draw 

Life from this law's longevity; 
So Mary Washington the world hath taught 
To "teach youth sacred Truth, and sell it not ! " 



4 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

MARTHA, WIFE OF WASHINGTON. 

[The young widow, Martha Custis, married George Wash- 
ington in'1759, in her 29th year, and died in iSoi. She, like his 
mother, was a Bible reading woman. A late notice says: "The 
Family Bible of Martha Wa.shington! Price, $5,000. The vol- 
ume is a thick quarto, bound in plain calf and covered with 
strong un-bleached linen of home manufacture. Her autograph 
appears in three places: Martha Washington, her book, 1789," — 
received apparentlj' from his dying mother, according to date.] 
(Read of Mary and Martha, Luke x, John xi.) 

"Jesus loved Mary ! JMartha, too;" 

And so these names now handed down, 
Are found m nations not a few, 

And often grown to great renown. 
The Bible names, that thus have been, 

Selected for earth's famous seats, 
Suggest how often it is seen. 

That history itself repeats. 

But more — Behold these Bible Madames both, 

With their home-Bible handsome and well bound, 
And holding even their household, age and troth, 

And daily read, indeed, all years around! 
Mark well those women, in the wilderness, 

And watching, day and night o'er distant war; 
In their deep hearts of helpful tenderness, 

Both fancy battles booming fierce and far ! 

What can support in war a constant wife 

But Christ, who cured the sword's keen cruel wound, 
Before he, loving, went to lay down life, 

Amid such dreadful darkness so profound, 
The sun in Heaven in sorrow hid his face, 

And all the earth groaned in its agony. 
At his great grief, that gave to us his grace, 

And our Republic all prosperity ? 

Well, Martha Washington Christ's hostess was; 

She welcomed him unto her wounded heart; 
When there came peril to her country's cause, 

She read and plead till he did help impart — 
Now, lo ! "America's Immanuel's land!" 

Here, every day, where praying households are, 
Maternal council moves at his command, 

And prospered life proceeds, led on by prayer — 
But here is something hard to understand: 
How Congress moved to ask at Martha's hand 
Her husband's ^rrtz'^.^ and she grants their demand ! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 5 

ABIGAIL ADAMS, WIFE OF THE SECOND PRESIDENT. 

[Abigail (Smith) Adams, a descendant of John Quincy, and 
daughter and granddaughter of Congregational ministers, was 
born in Weymouth, Mass , in 1744; married John Adams in 1764; 
was the first Lady of the White House 1800-1; was honored as a 
model Bible woman of the fir.st order, and so adored by her heirs, 
that her son John Quincy said near his death: "I've prayed my 
infant prayer every night till now." She died in 1818, having 
been, as her name implies, "her father's joy;" her husband's aid 
and her country's pride.] (Read Ps. xxiii and I. Samuel, xxv.) 

See that young dame, near Dorchester! 

She's watchins^ Washington bombard 
The toivn of Boston! Look at her! 

She's worthy of a zuorld's regard. 
Could you but stand where "Abby" stood, 

Recounting there the canon's roar, 
You would thank God for sounds so good, 

And mind that music evermore. 

For when the Britons fled that Boston town, 

Howe rung above the happy bells of heaven; 
His hand our Christian Liberty did crown, 

And left, to work in all the world, her leaven. 
Thence "Abby Adams" — in her healthy veins 

Flowing both Quincy and quite sacred blood — 
Surveyed her Country's sacramental plains, 

And in God's name pronounced the prospect good. 

At home, abroad, happy was she, and brave; 

'Twas Christian courage breathed within her breast; 
She sought, in all her life, our liberty to save. 

And, blending faith with hope, was highly blest. 
The pride of the proud "Second President," 

Who consecrates the White House with his care, 
She is renowned as its first resident. 

And daily practiced there their household prayer. 

Her sons she taught: " I lay me down to sleep! " 

'Twas said so warmly while they were so young. 
That one, when President, prayed still: "Lord keep 

My soul ! " — with reverential word and tongue. 
"The old man eloquent" ne'er entered bed 

Till, with a tender grace, he talked with God, 
And the son's infant words in faith were said. 

We bring with this that Mother's w^ords abroad, 
And say: "Thiswoman had aWebster's heart and head" 
Whose faithful words and deeds will be forever read! 



Q V OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

PRESIDENT JEFFERSON'S WIFE AND DAUGHTERS. 

[Mrs. Martha (Wayles) Skelton was born in Virginia, 1749, 
second marriage to Thomas Jefferson, 1772, died 1782. Of her 
five children, two, Martha and Mary, aided their father in the 
White House. The younger Mary (Eppes) died in 1804 and 
Martha (Randolph) died in 1836. These daughters were educated 
in a French Convent, and though Martha wished at one time to 
be a nun, she afterwards wrote against celibacy and transub- 
stantiation, and the three lived and died devout Episcopalians 
and derived comfort from the fact that President Jefferson when 
afflicted was found with the Bible in his hands.] (Read Psalm 
XLVi, and John v. 39 ) 

Of our Third President, the wife, 

Who loved him like idolatry, 
And to his labors toned her life, 

Bore him five children tenderly. 
Of these, two daughters seemed divine; 

So we've two sisters and the saint 
That bore them, all benign. 

And called from earth without complaint. 
Two Marthas and one Mary mark the page; 

Three women buoyant, beautiful and wise, 
Imbued with the best ideas of their age, 

Raised high in rank as women e'er could rise. 
To these three Bible wpmen's beauteous lives 

We're pleased to pay warm tribute in its place, 
Because they three became those thrifty wives 

That grow to ripeness in redeeming grace. 
Two passed from earth to endless Paradise 

Before the Sire and President had left the scene; 
Hence, when to God he did himself demise, 
He left his ''Martha" to his countrymen. 
So "Martha Randolph" soon was made the theme 
Of his dear country's thankful, kindest thought; 
Yet not so good 'twould seem as God Supreme, 

Nor have her heirs been honored as they ought. 
IvO ! this coincidence let us affix: 

When Jefferson and Adams joined decree, 
On July fourth of seventeen seventy-six, 

That the United States be thenceforth free. 
They hardly thought just half a century. 

On eighteen twenty six's natal day, 
They'd pass together to eternity — 

But so it was; both wise men passed away ! 
One said: "I give myself to God !" and died; 
"Let Independence live !" the other cried; 
Then Adams passed t' his patriot brother's side ! 



MOTHKRS AND DAUGHTERS. 7 

MRS. PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON. 

[?Irs. Dorothy (Payne) Madison, was born of anti-slavery 
Quaker parents in North Carolina in 1767. She was educated in 
Philadelphia, married John Todd, in 1786, and as his widow 
became Mrs. Madison in 1794. She accompanied her hus- 
band into the White House, in her 34th year, and showed 
great fortitude when the President was a fugitive and the White 
House and Capitol were in flames. She was then the most pop- 
ular person in America. Her only sorrow was her dissolute son! 
She died in 1849.] (Read Absalom and Prodigal Son, I^uke xv., 
and II Samuel, xviii, 33.) 

This model, Madame Madison, 

Americans have much admired, 
As if by Mesdames Washington 

And Adams, both, she'd been inspired. 
In her tried character and true, 

There's something that is so unique, 
So hearty and so handsome, too. 

Spontaneously itself doth speak. 

How rolicsome and rubicund she was 

With all the children whom she chanced to meet ! 
Respectful to those making speeches, laws. 

And letters sent to foreign monarchs' seat. 
How more than happy she made potentates. 

And gave to each grand welcome as her guests, 
And won renown in our United States, 

And every land where our diploma rests ! 
'Twas wonderful, her wise ability — 

— Adaptability'' s the better word — 
Her duties were of such diversity, 

And some of which herself had never heard ! 
How quenchless piety and quickening power 

Sustained her supreme equanimity. 
That hated, hot, humiliating hour 

Her " Mansion " burned with British enmity ! 
Still what a blending of all excellence 

In rites religious which her life regards; 
A woman pious, yet without pretense. 

Allowing that this Earth is all the Ivord's. 
She worshiped with a warm and sharing heart, 

With all true lovers of her wondrous Lord, 
In whose atonement she professed a part, 

And reverent waited on his righteous Word ! 
Yet all life long she wept her wayward son. 
As David over Absalom had done ! 
(Would God I'd died for thee, my son ! my son ! ) 



8 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

MRS. PRESIDENT JAMES MONROE. 

[It was in 1789 Miss Eliza Cortright married in New York- 
Senator James Monroe, of Virginia, and afterward attended him 
to the greatest number of important public offices at home and 
abroad, ever awarded an American citizen. She was a worthy 
wife of such a man, and mother of his children, Eliza and Maria, 
who married well and were also modest and faithful mothers. 
She died in 1830 and her husband July 4, 1831. Her most distin- 
guishing deed was the deliverance from death of Marchioness 
de L,a Fayette, and, as a consequence, liberating I^a Fayette him- 
self, who thence lived and came to this country last in 1825.] 
(Read: "I was sick and in prison and ye came unto me." Matt. 

XXV.) 

America's Ambassadress 

Seems sent across the sea in time 
To blend our thoughts and thanks to bless 

Those crushed with chains but without crime. 
In Europe had a crisis risen; 

There La Fayette in dungeon lay; 
In Paris was his wife in prison, 
Expecting death on any day! 
The livery of our Minister there led one morn 

The woman from the Western world and free 
Whom Marchioness de La Fayette forlorn 
Would sooner than all other women see; 
For, through her kindness, life for death there came; 
Then our Ambassadors The Marquis, too, unbound 
And La Fayette's noble, defeated name 

Was raised from fetters to respect profound ! 
Here's joy enough, to have been judged of Heaven, 

The harbinger of such a help and hope, 
When France to frenzy and despair was driven 

By \Si^ great "Corporal" and "gracious Pope." 
And such this holocaustic Heroine, 

Whose husband ministered at highest courts, 
Declared her mission seemed almost divine; 

And so \.h.Q people thought from such reports. 
Madame Monroe the Master thus obeyed; 
She, as He prompted, to the pris'ners came; 
And doubtless other deeds if all arrayed. 

Would lend still fuller lustre to her fame. 
Her daughters twain, Eliza and Maria, 

Were wives and mothers modelled after her, 
And, like the Mission of their Lord Messiah, 

They professed faiths that would wise deeds prefer; 
And in the White House what all did was wise; 
Their parts well acted; there the honor lies! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 9 

MRS. PRESIDENT JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

[This Bible Woman born of American parents, in London, 
1775, as Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, married the American 
Minister, John Quincy Adams in 1797. She wrote his father: 
" The systems of the ancients have been quite out of my reach 
excepting Plato's Dialogues, which I have read attentively. 
With modern philosophers I have become more familiar; but / 
fiave )iever seen atiything that would compare with the chaste and 
exquisitely simple doctrines of Christianity." She gave her 
husband three sons and a daughter and was Mistress in the 
Executive Mansion when La Fayette was for two weeks their 
guest. She died in 1852.] (Read cxv. P.-^alra ) 

When LaFayette became the guest 

At the proud home of Presidents, 
The Mistress who had been most blest 

With means to watch wise men's intents, 
There welcomed him, with heart so warm, 

And ways so gen'rous and so just, 
As both our Champion to charm 

And toward his wrongs turn deep disgust. 
'Twas our fifth President's high privilege 
To welcome LaFayette thus to the land 
Which he had helped to save from hostile siege; 

And these two statesmen there before us stand: 
*' With love surpassing that of women," they 

Embrace and weep, in wise yet broken words; 
When time hath come for them to part, the}^ say: 

*' Let all acknowledge: 'Nations are the Lords!' " 
I wonder that no limner ever laid 

Before the world this scene of that Farewell, 
When LaFayette profoundest tribute paid 

For days there spent where our Chief rulers dwell! 
Lo! as they stand, the Lord's own angel stood 

la person of the Mistress President, 
With face so godly, iti effect so good. 

Her very soul seemed as a vision sent. 
In all her varied life her virtues shone, 

Whether in White House, or at Foreign Court, 
Her noble culture was confessed and knowm, 

But as wnth Sheba's Queen, it past report. 
'Twas Mistress Adams' main ambition then 
To use her knowledge of nations and things 
To make more potent all true public men, 

And crown the Christ alone as King of Kings! 
But there have ofcen in that Mansion been 
Such scenes more sacred than are elsewhere seen? 



10 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

MRS. RACHEL JACKSON, WIFE OF OUR VI. PRESIDENT. 
[Mrs. President Jackson, w^^Miss Rachel Donelson, was born 
in Virginia, 1767; removed at 12 to Tennessee, where she married 
her second huslaand. Col. Jackson, in 179^. accompanied him as 
first Governor of Florida, where she secured the observance of 
the Sabbath and regular public worship, and to Washington as 
Senator, but between Jackson's election and inauguration as 
President, she overheard some remarks about a long-ago duel 
which so shocked her sensibility that she died soon after ; and 
her niece, Mrs. Emily Donelson, was mistress of the White 
House in her stead. She died Dec. 22, 1828.] (Her funeral text: 
"The Righteous shall be in Everlasting Remembrance." Ps.cxii,6> 
Those who've wandered down a river, 
Gathering wild flowers on its bank, 
Where the water-cresses quiver, 
And wild deer so lately drank, 
Can appreciate perfect nature 
That inspired the pioneers, 
And will fancy every feature 
Fitted to cast out their fears. 
So it was not all in native courage; 

But the God of Nature gave to know 
They might freely in his forests forage, 

And himself had sometimes taught them how. 
With this spirit sped the winsome maiden, 

Down the rivers to the forest region. 
On a flat-boat, full of bounties laden — 
Yet the priceless thing was their religion ! 
— (Her father's Journal read: "A voyage by God's permission.") 

Through afflictions, like a furnace heated, 

She became the helpmeet of ''Old Hick^ry,'^ 
And beside him with affection seated, 

Viewed well-pleased applaudits of his vict'ry; 
Then, in sight the Presidential Mansion, 

She heard words so wanton and so cruel, 
They surpassed ambition's safe expansion, 

And she fell, like "Dickinson" in duel ! 
Then the mighty, joyless man and "Gen'ral," 

Chastened as one stript of wife and children, 
Hastened from her sad and famous fun'ral 

To preside o'er a protesting cauldron, 
Cheered no little by her niece and nephew. 

Who, as Clerk and Mistress in that Mansion, 
Help't the Ruler in his "Public Review," 

Soothed and softened oft his sore intention. 
And with him, through faith in "Rachel's S.wior" 
Passed at last to God, The Father's favor ! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. H 

MRS. HANNAH (HOES) VAN BUREN. 

[Mrs. Van Buren, nee Miss Hannah Goes (Hoes,) was born in 
Kinderhook, N. Y , 1782, was school mate of Martin Van Buren 
whom she married in 1807 She died in 1819, leaving her devoted 
husband to enter the White House— like General Jackson— as a 
widower. She was a deeply pious, Bible reading mother of five 
children. Her accomplished daughter-in-law, Angelica (Single- 
ton) VanBuren, was cousin of the renowned Mrs. Madison, and 
through her became mistress of the White House, honored and. 
loved, at home and abroad.] (Read the xc. Psalm.) 

The name of "Hoes" is Kinderhook's 

(Or "Goes" around that ''giid alV town) 
It hath been found in household books, 

As upright and of pure renown. 
There Hannah Hoes, a handsome lass, 

Was the loved belle of all the ville; 
In school she headed every class, — 

Save one indomitable will ! 

That overmatching will was "Martin Van," 

Whose galantry she loved as kind and good, 
And when he passed to be a public man, 

In chairs of state, his chosen bride she stood. 
So happy were they in their hearts and home. 

Their bliss was unto all that knew them blest; 
For those who could unto their presence come 

Have never tired their home-life to attest. 

There "Mistress Van" had most majestic views 

Of God and duty on each given day; 
And so befitting did her Bible use. 

She bade her children read it and obey ! 
She early seemed not long to live on earth, 

Her conversation had caught up to heaven; 
So when she went away, so real her worth, 

Van Buren wept and said: ''Sire, we are seven .^"' 

( Wordsworth.. 
He never looked for her dear like again ! 

However wiley may have been his ways, 
Whatever burdens bore upon his brain, 

He loved "Dear Hannah" all his living days ! 
And now that picture needs this added part: 

His Son's pure wife, worthy a second place. 
Came to the White House, and so near his heart 

She granted her exquisite courtly grace 
To his high office with her ornate, helpful art — 
Her Cousin, Mistress Madison, "Calling the start!"* 



12 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

MRS. PRESIDENT \VM. HENRY HARRISON. 

[Mrs. Anna (Symms) Harrison was born in New Jersey, 1775; 
moved to Ohio, 1794; married Capt. Harrison, 1795 ; accompanied 
him to Congress, and to the Governor's seat, but not to '"the 
Executive Mansion." She had borne so many children and 
burdens for them ; had shared so many pioneer and polemic 
"hardships, that in Feb., 1841, she was not able to go to Washing- 
ton. She was in ever}^ waj'^ a model woman, and her numerous 
progeny will ever praise her memory. She died in 1864, select- 
ing for her funeral text: rs.xlvi.,10: "Be still and know that I am 
•God."] 

Here Mistress Harrison appears 

Both model, and a bean ideal; 
From early youth for eighty years, 

Religious life with her was real. 
In form and fact she's beautiful; 

And her afl5ances are fit; 
A hero true — no traitor Hull — 

J'oth won her hand, and worshiped it. 

Of all the Bible Women in the West— 

And there are noble millions of them now, — 
That brave old Chieftain's wife was of the best. 

And her religion M'reathed his upright brow. 
Taught by her Tible and by nature both, 

So never once her wisdom seemed to cease; 
With Christian truth and faith she'd kept her troth; 

In all his periods of war and peace. 

The wondrous wilds in the deep western woods, 

Blending the scenes of bloody savage strife, 
With wastes by famine, forest-fires and floods, 

Intensified the factors of their life, 
Till character, when " Christ is formed w-ithin " 

In such associations as they sought. 
Became God's baricade against all sin 

And built a conscience that could not be bought! 

There's something that's sublimely sweet 

In "Mother Harrison's" own modest home ! 
There, she like Mary sat at Jesus' feet. 

And yet, like Martha, served all guests that come; 
And in her patience, when in grief and pain, 

She felt affliction's hand upon her pressed, 
She was, though widowed, willing to remain 

Till Heaven's time come to call her home to rest; 
There's not in her life's story the least stain; 
Nor quite her equal among queens that reign ! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. l^: 

MRS. PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER. 

[Mrs. Letitia (Christian) Tyler, a lover of music and other 
fine arts, was born in Cedar Grove, Va., 1779; married John 
Tyler, 1813; was mother of seven children, one of which says: 
" My first memory is that she taught me my letters from the 
family Bible." She died in the White House, September, 1842. 
In June, 1844, her husband took young Miss Julia Gardner, late 
from a convent in New York, to" serve as wife and mistress in 
the White House. The only one who seems not to have been 
through life, a sincere Bible-reader. She died July 10, 1889. J 
(Read the Ixvi. Psalm.) 

There's music in the march of years; 

There's music in the moving seas; 

There's music of the mighty spheres, 

And breaths of music in the breeze; 

There's music in our fights and fears, 

And music of mellifluous bees; 
There's music in the drop of tears, 
And music by the birds in trees'; 
But rythm of loving, rounded, beauteous lives 

Of matron heads of model families. 
All way as maidens, women, mothers, wives. 

Hath music here of heaven' s sweet melodies. 
Madame Letitia Tyler's mother-love, 
From early life until her death at last. 
Her practical and pious home-life prove; 

Her ''Christian''' name was in her nature cast. 
Her social labors, so much loved and sought. 

Her love-born character, so biblical. 
Her Bible teaching as one Bible-taught, 

Made her whole mission here seem musical. 
Her death — where Harrison had lately died ! — 

In contrast with the "Gun Catastrophe," 
And bringing in of dancing and a bride. 
Have put her name high up in history! 
Whatever hath been spoken of her spouse. 

So honored and selected to high place, 
Whatever, after, was in the White House, 

This Mistress Tyler's grandest mead was grace. 
This Christly daughter of a "Christian" man, 

Most beautiful in body and in mind. 
Whose life like rythmical love sonnets ran. 
Whose memory will honor woman kind, 
A very sweet and lovely "psalm of life," 
Will be "John Tyler's beautiful first wife; " 
Nor for her place let school girls enter strife! 



14 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

MRS. PRESIDENT JAMES KNOX POLK. 

[Mrs Sarah (Childress)Polk wasbornnear Murphreysborough, 
Tenn., in 1803, and lived and died childless. She was educated in 
a N. C. Moravian Seminary; married Mr Polk in 1822; and with 
him entered the White House in 1S45, where she filled her office 
of President's wife with equal felicity and fidelity. She sympa- 
thized with her husband's devotion to the Union and with the 
South's endeavor to distroy it. She received G. A. R. and other 
conventions delightfully, just before her death in 1891.] (Read 
Job xxviii., 12-28.) 

Perhaps no person ever was 
More truly an American, 
Than Mistress Polk, in every cause 

That might first help her fellow man. 
She was well balanced, wise and brave, 

Made up of dignity divine 
And sympathy that seeks to save, 

And helps the Heavenly sun to shine. 
Queenly in person, quiet, self possessed. 

With elegance and equipoise, and grace. 
She gave each guest at once to feel at rest; 
For a fair beam of light's about her face! 
She stood like " Emma Donelson " in state, 

A cultured Tennessean, kind and true, 
Whom nothing ever seems to so elate, 

She did not know " exactly " what to do. 
She played, always, a wise and prudent part, 

With no propensity to put on airs; 
For the world's history she knew by heart, 

And was familiar with modern affairs. 
In company she coald her powers command; 

No diplomat said what she seemed to doubt; 
No statesman's words but she would understand, 

And be mistress of all they talked about. 
And when she left the White House for her home. 

Her courteous hospitality, still kind. 
With Christian spirit spoke to such as come. 

In friendly dignity no less refined. 
And during all that wicked dreadful war. 

While her warm symathieswere with her "South," 
She never made a sign one's sense to mar. 

And no irrev'rent mood rushed from her mouth. 
When Fed'ral Educators from afar 
Stood near, they saw still bright her evening star. 
And Heaven's dear "Beulah Land" seemed beck'ning 
her! 



MOTHKKS AND DAUGHTERS. 15 

MRS. PRESIDENT ZACHARY TAYLOR. 

[Mrs. Margaret (Smith) Taylor was a Maryland farmer's 
daughter, distinguished for her Christian simplicity of character 
and common sense. She married Captain Taylor in 1810, and 
showed a wonderful devotion to her wifely duties, until her hus- 
band's death in the Executive Mansion, July 9th, 1850. Her 
daughter "Bessie," Mrs Elizabeth Bliss, did for her most of the 
duties of "Lady of the White House." Mrs Taylor died in Aug- 
ust, 1852, possessed of the same kindly, Bible-loving spirit she 
had borne from early life.] (Read Proverbs, xxxi.) 

The loved simplicity of life, 

And marvelous siucerity 
Of "Rough aud Ready's" royal wife, 

Should pass to our posterity, 
To teach a lesson long to last, 

Like a perpetual legacy, 
That never yet hath been surpassed, 

And possibly will never be. 

When she first left her shantied, live-stock farm, 

In her melodious, happy Maryland, 
Her child-like ways were full of healthy charm, 

And "Captain Taylor" captured heart and hand. 
Their hearts and hands were held thence close and warm 

Until his death into The White House came; 
And first to last, she did her part perform 

Without a thought of future wealth or fame. 

The sweet unselfishness that swayed her soul, 

When sufF'ring soldiers felt her sympathy. 
Where cruel savages had kept control. 

Till her "old Indian Fighter's" victory, 
Or coming filled with wounds from foreign wars. 

Was like her Savior's hand with healing touch; 
And how she honored "honorable scars," 

Because our bravest men "had borne so much ! " 

And where she swooned at touch of the death-sweat 

Upon her husband's broad and massy brow, 
A faithful country cannot soon forget. 

Although too little thought of, even now. 
But as she aided others to adore 

The God of battles and of good behest, 
Let Margaret Taylor live forever more ; 

For blessing many be her memory blest ! 
And "Bessy Taylor"! what a ''Bliss'' was she ; 

Most happy model, in her ministry ! 



16 OUR rKKSlDIXXTS' WIVKS, 

MBS. PRESIDENT MILLARD FILLMORE. 

[Mrs. Fillmore — tiee Miss Abigail Powers, was born in Still- 
water, N. Y., in 1798. Her father was a distinguished Baptist 
minister, but died in her first year, leaving her to the joint care 
of her mother and the widow's God. This however secured to 
her even a better education than her illustrious husband's, who 
had the superhuman benefits of her Bible-nurtured society, from 
their marriage in 1826, till her death soon after leaving the 
White House, March, 1853. She left with him one son and 
daughter and a vast sympathetic populace to mourn her loss.] 
(Read Deuteronomy x, 18; xiv, 29; xvi, 11; xxiv, 19-21.) 

Another "Abigaii," appears; 

Another widow's child we have, 
To show how those who sow in tears 

Beside a parent's parting grave, 
May yet fulfill their '' father's joy," 

And with rejoicing may return 
Where they were once a girl or boy. 

And life renew, review and learn. 

For so, the Fillmore family are found 

To take us back to poverty and pain; 
Thence to behold what benefits abound 

Where there was born the wealth of heart and brain. 
The pious thirst of "Abby Powers" for thought, 

Her thorough knowledge of earth's noble things 
Which she obtained, and unto others taught. 

Would fit a Christian to consort with kings. 

The ways she helped her husband to achieve, 

The honors which they two so aptly won. 
Were beneficial fully to believe. 

That we do well as all the wise have done. 
Like Mistress Adams, first in the White House, 

Here Madame F11.1.MORE of majestic form, 
With righteous indignations that arouse. 

Had a wise head, and heart as wise as warm. 

Then, to her daughter Mary, she might turn 

In any time of need for hostess aid; 
For she was learn'd, as well as apt to learn, 

America's own model of a maid ! 
'Twas so equipt. The Fillmore's, side by side, 

With their distinguished daughter, entered in, 
Where Zachary Taylor had so lately died. 

And well united did new honors win; 
To bare apartments suited books supplied, 
And lived a beauteous home-life^ beside! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTHRS. 17 

PRKSIDENT FILLMORE'S DAUGHTER. 

[Miss Mary Abigail Fillmore was born in Buffalo in 1832 
and died of Cholera, 1854 She was teaching public school when 
called bv the President to act at 22 as lady of the White House. 
A local" paper says; "She was always governed by a sense of 
religious duty and' her relations to her Creator and Savior were 
constantly in her thoughts; and yo\ing as she was, she did much 
to lay the fonndatio!i of a mode of social life more kind, cultured 
and genuine As lier beaming intelligence rises before us, it 
suggests only Hjw good ! how Kind 1 and she is gone !"J (See xc, 
PS. 12.) 

Pause here. O American maiden ! 

And study this model in vState; 
Whose beautiful life was so laden 

With fortune soon severed by fate. 
Stand by her, in casket there sleeping, 

Mid mates of her modest young years, 
Where the vStates are all standing round weeping 

And the Nalion is now shedding tears ! 

Look back o'er that life in its beauty — 

A mirror in which see thy face — 
All radiant with devotion to duty, 

Adorned with both learning and grace. 
W^hat heights 'nea'.h the halo of fame, 

She gilded with goodness and skill, 
And left \.h.ex& filled full as her name — 

The story of her excellence still ! 

While going thence forth to her grave, 

Remember her wisdom and worth; 
How bright was her spirit and brave, 

How lowly her ancestral birth ! 
//^r life was like thine, howe'er lowly; 

Let thine be like her's at its best; 
Then dying — or quickly — (dx slowly, 

Thy mem'ry like her's may be blest ! 

All the world ! look ye on this loved picture 

Of life-fruit in this land of the free; 
Of crowned heads who inherit no stricture 

But the best of free beings to be ! 
What a contrast if none could be queen, 

But a scion of some dame and sire. 
Whose seedy successions are seen. 

And to which but their heir may aspire, 
No matter how baleful and mean 
Their character and conduct have been ! 



18 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

MRS. PRESIDENT FRANK PIERCE. 

[Mrs. Jane Means Pierce, who resembled Jonathan Edwards, 
was the daughter of President Appleton, D. D., of Bowdoin 
College, Me., and born March 12, 1806. She married Mr. Pierce, 
1834, and with him entered the White House in March, 1853. 
As one has well said: " It is no disparagement to others to claim 
for her there unsurpassed dignity and grace, delicacy and purity 
in all that pertains to public life. There was a Christian home, 
quietly and constatitly maintained in the Executive Mansion 
while she was its mistress." She died in Andover, Mass., in 1863, 
saying among her last words: "Jesus, Lover of my Soul, let 
me to thy bosom fly. "J (See Rev. xiv. 13.) 

America's best mother-mind, 

Most ethical and most ornate, 
Most feminine and most refined, 

Most studious of her moral state, 
Most helpful to her husband's heart, 

Most flexile in afflictions fierce, — 
Until she panted to depart — 
That "Mother-Mind" was Madame Pierce! 
Not that she was all mind-ethereal; 

Though intellectual, she lived to love, 
With model form of fine material. 

And beaming eyes, like Edward's, lit above. 
And yet those eyes had shed full shares of tears; 

From infancy she'd often been bereft, 
Had buried children in their budding years, 

Till loving " Bennie's" all that they have left. 
And when at last, they to the White House went, 

They had yet this one treasure more to yield, 
To fit Frank Pierce in full for President — 

They laid " fond Bennie " in the buried field ! 
The people gave them the best gift they had, 

But coming to it caused this keenest grief. 
It took the life of that as loving lad 

As e'er was born of sanctified belief. 
Hence Pierce's bold Inaugural began 

By speaking of this " bitter sorrow" borne 
When on their way to this last gift of man — 

Full many tears there fell with them to mourn. 
'Twas in such sorrow — not a soul could know — 

When Mrs. Pierce made her appearance where 
Some souls had lately suffered nearly so — 

'Twas thus she came and served her country there! 
Through wearisome ordeals this woman went, 
The Peerless Wife of a proud President! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. I9 

MISS HARRIET LANE, BUCHANAN'S NIECE, AND LADY OF THE 
WHITE HOUSE. 

[President Buchanan left the White House a bachelor ; the 
first celibate Executive, and we hope the last one. His favorite 
niece, Miss Lane, whom he had educated from early orphanage, 
was called to serve as the President's lady assistant. Like Mrs. 
Pierce, she entered the White House in sorrow and went through 
her duties with unf^een weeping. Her brother and sister had 
been suddenly buried. She received thanks from Victoria and 
Albert Edward for her hospitable seivice to him in i860. In 1866 
she became Mrs. Johnson, and since bore him a son named 
James Buchanan.] (Read xlvi Psalm.) 
Born in a praying home, 
Of Presbyterian stock, 
Where saints were wont to come, 

And pastors of the flock. 
Young "Hattie's" yearning heart 

Heaved many a sigh for heaven, 
And for that "better part" 
Which was to Mary given. 
But 'ere she'd read her Bible through. 

The heart of love on which she leaned. 
That trained her taste for what is true, 

Was from this world so fully weaned, 
Her mother moved to homes on high. 

And gave to God her orphaned child, — 
Whose sire was also soon to die. 

And leave the child in sorrow's wild. 
Her mother's brother met her case; 

Adopting, as a daughter, her. 
He trained her youth in truth and grace 

That she Heaven's precepts should prefer. 
His sympathy was her support; 

His thought her ample, pleasing thanks; 
And when he dwelt at foreign court, 

She rose into the highest ranks. 
Hence, in the "House of Uncle Sam," 

There's scarce an equal to her skill; 
In ev'n a "Presidential jam" 

She's mistress of the masses still. 
W^ith Mary Fillmore's flexile ease, 

With Madame Pierce's pensive mind, 
She doth the public serve and please 

With royal courtesies and kind — 
While secret traitors tried to seize 
The President by deep surprize, 
And "pulled their wool over his eyes!" 



20 OUR PRH5IDKNTS' WIVES. 

MRS. MARY TODD LINCOLN. 

[Hon. Ward H. Ivamon savs: "Lincoln had from boyhood a 
presentiment that he would be President and die by violence. 
Mrs. Iv. too had the same belief as to the Presidency. She is 
quoted as saying-, soon after their marriage: 'He is going to be 
President, and that's the reason I married him, for you know he 
is not pretty.' " vShe bore Mr. Lincoln five children, four of 
whom died before her own demise in an insane asylum, July i6, 
1882. Her life of rational enjoyment really ended when Booth's 
bullet entered her husband's massy and benignant brain.] (Read 
Isaiah liii.) 

I've heard it said that "Martin Van," 

When playing with his well pleased mates, 
Would say: "See here! When I'm a man, 

I'll rule o'er The United States!" 
I've read in print that Mary Todd 

So hoped The White House would be hers, 
And when she gave herself to God, 
That prophesy she still prefers. 

Yet Mary Todd would not "S.eve Douglas" wed, 

For bees, found in her bonnet, seemed to say: 
"I hear a something singing in my head, 

^Ahe Lincobi will be President some day!' " 
Presentiments of many public men 

Have been like heralds from the bounds of heaven; 
Both good and bad forebodings there have been; 

For seers the '7raz7t;r" saw with "the eleven." 

But here, both "Abraham" and "Mary" felt 

Rare futures were before them in real fact; 
So Lincoln's noble heart on heaven knelt, 

And her expectance hailed his every act. 
With his presentiments, hers, too, would share; 

And when he left his people, to preside, 
And prayed them give to him their guiding prayer, 

She, wifelike, loving, waited at his side. 

And when he watched through all that wicked war, 
She wrote a note requesting men to pray 

That peace and freedom be not put alar; 

And with a '^patrioVs pen, repeated: "Pray!" 

When prophecies of both had been fulfilled, 

And Booth had pierced The Nation's noble head, 

The widow cried: "The President is killed!'" 
Her shattered mind by such a mighty shock 
Could simply leave behind: "Christ is my Rock!" 



*She wrote this note to me at Governor Andrew's, Boston. 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. £1 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S MOTHER. 

[Mrs. Nancy (Hauks) Lincoln was born in Virginia, but 
raised in Kentucky. In 1806 she married illiterate, honest 
Thomas Lincoln, and moved to Indiana, giving birth to a daugh- 
ter and the one son Abraham, whom she taught to fear God and 
read the Bible, so that he afterwards said: " All I am or hope to 
be, I owe to my Angel Mother! Blessings on her memory." She 
died when he was 9 years old, and soon his father married widow 
Sarah Johnson, with three children, whom he loved, and who 
were also fond of "Abe" as an obliging, honest boy.] (Read Ps. 
I and XXV, 10.) 

A child of nature and of God, 

Raised up in rude sitnpiicity, 
Where many an Indian maid had trod 

Filled with wild felicity; 
Young Nancy Hanks's unknown youth 

With sparce companionships was spent; 
But there she learned and loved the truth 

Of God in Christ; this gave content! 

Thus by the Bible " born of God again," 

That holy book seems all her cabins own, 
Save Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress printed plain; 

So these she used to read and taught her son, 
Till with delight he learned to read them loud. 

Thus, by fire light, he lit his "lamp of life," 
And wnth his progress made his parents proud, 

As for it well " Tom Lincoln " praised his wife. 

So by that Bible, Sire and son were blessed, 

And Nancy Lincoln's house had needful peace, 
Till in her son's tenth 3^ear she sank to rest, 

And from her rough, hard lot had fit release. 
Her kind successor, Sarah Johnson came, 

Viewing that Bible, very best of books, 
She helped bo}^ Abrah.\m bear up his name 

Till truth and trials traced even his looks. 

Hence "■Honest Abe"" has been his honored name; 

Though Weems's (well lent) Life of Washington 
And Bunyan's Pilgrim helpt beget his fame, 

'Twas Nancy Lincoln's Bible named her son. — 
Thou dear departed shade! that doth now shine 

In Heaven's salubrious, happy, unseen spheres I 
Dost thou not look from days and lands divine, 

Back to thy cabin's tears and burdened years. 
Where past and future could by faith combine. 
And say: Glad, Glorious Motherhood was Mine! 



22 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

MRS. ELIZA MC CARDLE JOHNSON. 

[After Lincoln's death, President and Mrs Andrew Johnson 
entered the White House. They were half-orphans of pious 
widows, and were married in his aist year. He was an illiterate 
tailor, and she became his evening teacher; was a very beautiful 
woman, and was at Washington inspiring his ablest Senate 
speech against secession, Jan., 1861. She returned toTenn.,and 
lost her health by her persecutions within the Confederate lines, 
so that she was unable afterwards to officiate in the White House, 
but received her guests around her chair. She had two daugh- 
ters, Martha and Mary, who did the honors well. She died in 
1876, and on their monument is carved an open Bible! ] (Read 
Psalm cxix, 97-112.) 

How honored is a poor man's home ! 

Here God says : "Give this house to me ; 
And if calamity shall come, 

Your orphan children mine shall be ; 
My covenant with them I'll keep, 

The widow's God and guide I'll be ; 
Who sow in tears, in joy shall reap 
The harvests of prosperity." 
Two minors, of two widows, met in need ! 

EUZA one, a blond, a beauty brave ; 
Dark Andrew he, and able scarce to read ; 

But both did Christian culture need and crave: 
These wed, and thenceforth work their upward way. 

At home she helps him into Congress halls ; 
Indeed, they help each other night and day, 

Up in the world, within The White House walls ! 
Trace back their lot ! See "Andrew" at the feet 

Of his "Eliza" learn to read and write. 
Till (ne'er in school a day) he can compete 
With learn-ed men of legislative might ! 
That cabin view is of earth's very best — 

Eliza teaching that young tailor there — 
Till to ev'n traitors, she's of truth the test. 

And fills his life all full of fervent prayer. 
Aye, view again ! A Christian cavalcade 

Is driven beyond the long deep rebel lines ; 
And she who leads, betrayed but least afraid, 

Is that shy woman — how her face there shines ! 
Good, hopeful, patient, haggard, pale. 

How rebels half confess her rights and cause ; 
And feel her principles will hence prevail — 

This woman seems as wise as ever was ! 
Let children's children rally round her chair ; 
The White House walls echo her winged prayer ; 
Her Bible on her tomb be carved with care ! 



MOTIIKRS AND DAUGHTERS. 23 

PRFSIDENT JOHNSON'S DAUGHTERS, MARTHA AND MARY. 

[Martha Johnson Patterson officiated in the White House 
chitfly for her parents. She was like her father, dark and 
efficient. Her husband 'w as U. S. Senator. She was partially 
assisted by Mrs. Stover, her sister Mary, who was a blond like 
their mother, and had with her three children, which with Mrs. 
Patterson's two, and invited ones of the town, made a plenty of 
fun even when their Grandpa was being pulverized under a vaiu 
impeachment. The daughters suffisred like their father and 
mother in war time ] (Read Ps. cxxxvii, and Ixxxiii, 5.) 

'Tis hard to realize to day 

The tides of sorrow in the South; 
How the Secessionists had sway, 

By cruel sword and cannon's mouth; 
And harder yet to understand 

How Eastern Tennesseans held 
Their love so firm for father-land, 

Where every shelter might be "shelled." 

So wicked were the scenes of wasting w^ar! 

There Mary Stover 'mid the suff 'rers stood, 
For all on earth she felt worth living for 

Had fled before the hungr}^, fiery flood. 
The father of her children chose to serve 

Our humane cause, and called from home, 
He prayed that Providence would then preserve 

His Christian house till he could hither come. 

Still Mary Stover soon a widow stood ! 

Her children sad are cherished by her Sire 
(Who risked his person for the public good) 

And in his White House have their heart's desire. 
They're all more blest than any body knows! 

The Nation's safe! and so successful now, 
Ev'n Grandma's gratitude, too, overflows, 

As all before the Heavenly Father bow. 

While Martha Patterson, most patient still, 

Serving her country with excessive care. 
With hardly tiuie to wish the heavenly will. 

Or practice leisureU' her love of pra) er. 
Does honor as " First Lady of the Land." 

She says: " We're from the hills of Tennessee; 
We always could ourselves quite well command, 

And more than this they must not ask of me." 
Behold //d'r.^ff//' command that White House band ! 
Ev'n when arraigned their Nation's Chief doth stand, 
Her happy children cheer on every hand ! 



24 OUR rRR5IDP:NTS' WIVES, 

MRS. PRESIDENT U. S GRANT. 

[Mrs. Julia (Dent) Grant was married at her birth-place in 
Missouri, Aug. 22, 1848, and went with her husband onto a farm, 
which he called "Hardscrabble." She bore him three sons and 
one daughter. In sickness and health, in want and in wealth, 
she encouraged and aided him, often caring for others in dis- 
tress. She was a prudent woman, and a proud and praying wife 
and mother. Passing from poverty up to the White House, her 
domestic administration was admirable. Her bearing in public 
and private life from infancy to age, was beautiful as May, and 
harmonious as music] (Read Proverbs xiv, 1-34 ) 

The woman of the greatest worth; 

Against whom nothing can be said; 
Whose name is honored o'er the earth, 
In reahns where it is heard and read; 
Who more than kept her marriage vow, 

Whate'er her husband's wants or wealth, 
To love him truly, high or low, 

In good or ill, sickness or health — 
Her lo3'al brow wears laurels now ! 
So much that's beautiful, that's sweet, that's brave 

Is in this wifely woman's will and waj^ 
Which saved her husband to his country save, 

We fain would set her worth in full array. 
But there's no language that can laud too much 

Her patient service, when he was so poor, 
His bootless toil had the " Hardscrabble " touch, 

And dismal want was waiting at the door. 
O, what a model for all wives of men 

Who work by day to win home's dail}' bread, 
And sometimes sink beneath such burdens then 

That they indeed half wish themselves were dead ! 
And what a lesson is her later life. 

So womanly in all that wicked war, 
So straight and simple in the scenes of strife; 
And in the White House which they waited for ! 

No woman there had greater wisdom shown. 

Or shared more kindly its domestic cares, 
And made her husband's honor mold her own; 

In practice of her prudence and her prayers, 
She made theWhite House what it should be — Homh! — 

And typic of our cottntry and our time. 
And when around the uiorld they while and roam, 

Courted by queens and kings in their best prime, 
Atid to our coasts they hast'ning, happy come, 
Of woman's excellence she seems the sum ! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTivRS. 25 

A PET OF THE NATION WAS PRESIDENT GRANT'S "NELLIE." 

[President and Mrs. Grant gave a suitable wedding to their 
only daughter, Nellie, in the famous East Room of the White 
House, May 2r, 1874. She married an educated, well-attired 
Engli-^hman, Algernon Sartoris, who wished the cegis of her 
name, but made her lot a lesson on internatioral weddings for 
the young ladies of every land, and offended the pride of the 
American people, who will prize his loyal wife to the last.] 
{Read II Cor. vi, 14.) 

All Anglomaniacal mood 

Had moved upon the public mind, 
Till countless girls counted it good 

Toward foreign "class" to feel inclined; 
And not a lesson in our land 

Were needed more, than now, to teach 
Girl§' hearts here how to give their hand 

And not, as brides, have heartless breach. 

Women here fancy foreign zvedlock well, 

And really feel they've reached both fame and rank, 
Yet soon have trials no true heart can tell, 

And think at last they've j^//" alone to thank. 
True beauteous daughters have been oft betrayed 

By boughten titles, or babels of tongues, 
Till no dear kindred can do equal aid. 

And right the rashness, or redress the wrongs. 

No ladies now in the United States 

Have nobler graces thaa had Nellie Grant; 
Full many a suitor for the maiden waits, 

Men wise and willing to meet ever}^ want. 
Yet not her Mother nor Maje.-.tic Sire 

Could change the passion of their petted child 
To vow ''obedience'" to his bold desire 

Who had her goodness to himself beguiled. 

If Nellie 'd known he chiefly loved her name — 

Like those who marry women for their zvealth — 
She might have found one fitted to her fame, 

With here a Home of happiness and health; 
But now this famous Nellie Grant affair 

Will self possession o'er the world enforce, 
And from this Presidential case prepare 

All virtuous damsels to avoid divorce; 
For this bride says: "To my firm bond I bow; 
I must forever keep my marriage vow! " [now! 

So yet, "The Nation's pet," is Grant's dear "Nellie" 



26 OUR PRHSIDKNTS' WIVES, 

MRS. PRESIDENT RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 

[Mrs. Lucy (Webb) Hayes was perhaps the most beautiful 
type of a practical Bible Woman that ever led the society of 
Washington. vShe was born in Ohio, but of New England and 
^'a. ancestry, was educated with her brothers by their widowed 
Another, at the "Wesleyan University" and "Seminary." She 
married Mr. Hayes in 1852, and hiS progress in war and peace 
was largely due to her popularity and lucid piety. She died of 
apoplexy in 1889. Her life-size" portrait is in the Presidential 
Mansion and should hold an honored place.] (Read the II 
Epistle of John and (^&\\ v, 8.) 

Lo ! There she stands as large as life ! 

Her wisdom speaketh from the wall, 
The patriot warrior's pious wife, 

Whose life's a lesson for iis all ! 
At work, in camp, in peace and war, 

Her life was perfect with her Lord ; 
Whom she loved, lived and waited for, 

Till welcomed to her last reward ! 

"The Elect Lady" of the loving John, 

That he in vision, even then, foresaw, 
As by the painter in that picttire drawn, 

Embodies gospel and God's beaming law. 
That product, both of Bible precepts born 

And master art, in form and heart and mind 
Doth well the White House wall and Home adorn ; 

A welcome keepsake for all woman kind. 

But not the portrait in that public place, 

By gifted art, observers best engage, 
Speaking refinement from an inspired face ; 

But her example^ here, bears on each age ; 
Helps virtuous character in every case ; 

Urges all cowards their convictiors own. 
And raises woman in her world and race, 

To learn God's law, that 'man's not good alone!" 

Then let that likeness there forever last. 

Among the portraits of the Presidents ; 
That passers-by may thus behold the past. 

And realize how much it represents ; 
For here have women helped, as well as men, 

To make Home-Life have moral-loving hope, 
To teach the future by what here hath been. 

To scan earth's brightness by its broad'ning scope. 
And make more keen the Nation's moral ken. 
Then Lucy Hayes shall zvin, if not till then! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 27 

PRESIDENT GARFIELD'S MOTHER ELIZA 15ALLOU. 

[Mrs. Eliza Ballou Garfield was born in 1802 and died 18S8. 
She was 78 years old when her son went with her and his wife 
into tbe "White House. Ijke Mary Washingrton, she had been 
"the making" of her orphan boy's character and consequent 
career. Her husband when dying said: "Eliza, I have planted 
four saplings in the woods, I leave them to your care." How she 
cared for them the sequel shows. Her picture is taken ponder- 
ing over her open Bible.] (Read I Samuel i, 27.) 

The autunm sun is setting now, 

And passing down a perfect day; 
A halo bright is on its brow; 

I love to watch it launch away ! 
'Twas somewhat so I used to see 

This aged woman, years ago, 
Seem like that setting sun to me, 

Moving serene, majestic, slow, 
Toward the deep eternit}'. 

That Mother of our Martyred Magistrate, 

Was left a widow in his infancy, 
So poor she planted what her orphans ate, 

And harvesting the ears, did count to see 
What number could be spared for her supply; 

She working, weak and widowed as she was. 
The woodman's strokes with all her strength did try^ 

Yet kept the hope that every Christain has. 

She was of Gallic and blue Yankee blood. 

New England Puritan's ideas and type; 
So, gladly met her "glorious motherhood " 

And kept home's fruitage, holy, fresh and ripe ! 
A mother so mature seems more than made, 

Whose children are so chastened ere their birth 
They rise to excellence, as without aid. 

And win renown with their own natal worth. 

Her " Baby Boy " went battling for the right, 

Borne off on war's most bounding tidal wave; 
She watched her Savior walking in his sight 

And said: "The Christ my soldier son can save ! " 
And when to Congress and the White House grown, 

She looks upon him there with laurel crowned, 
" All things are for the best," her faith doth own. 

Her gratitude hath grown beyond all bounds; 
But when she cried: "They've killed my Baby Boy! "" 
Her grief soon hushed in heavenl}' greeting's joy! 



•28 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD'S WIFE. 

[Mrs. Ivucretia (Rudolph) Garfield, like her husband, was 
born in "Western Reserve," Ohio, and "kept school and boarded 
round." She also had classes in drawing and paintingf and helped 
prepare their boys for college. She married Garfield in 1858, and 
bore him seven children. • Near his death he said : " My wife is 
so prudent I've not been diverted once from my work to explain 
away any mistake of hers. When there is most public clamor, 
she is most cool. She is perfectly unstampedable."] (Read Acts 
iv, 14.) 

This model Christian mother is 

Completely an American, 
Whose husband knew her wholly his, 

Fit helpmeet for her famous man ! 
A teacher, too, of truth and taste, 

Her conduct has a complete whole ; 
With changeless will and wisdom chaste, 

She stood quite ''unstampedable ! " 

"We see her waiting through our wicked war ;' 

Her buoyant faith bends o'er each battle-field, 
Till final peace arrives that she's prayed for. 

And Heaven's hands the wounds have touched and 
Then, when in "States United" he doth stand, [healed, 

A legislator in high courts of law, 
She now, as helpmeet, nerves his mighty hand, 

A safe adviser as earth ever saw, 

From first to last, in learning and in life, 

She was a consort of the wisest kind ; 
Well given to Garfield as his Godly wife. 

Endowed most fully with a faithful mind; 
The prudent mate of that wise President, 

She honored us, and we should honor her. 
And let our women — with their lot content — 

Conform to her's their Christian character. 

Perhaps no President e'er was more proud 

Of what he called his ' better half," than hers; 
For she shrank from no fate, until his shroud 

Encomj)assed him; and -thence, all that occurs 
To hold her guileless heart to human gaze, 

And have all nations know and laud her name, 
Her prudence above princesses to praise — 

'Twas then she seemed to fear to share his fame; 
Yet, where mankind his monument doth raise 
Her sad delight whiles her declining days ! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 29^ 

PRESIDENT ARTHUR'S WIFE AND SISTER. 

[Vice President Chester A. Arthur followed Garfield to pre- 
side in the White House. His wife, the mother of his two beau- 
tiful children, and daughter of the distinguished Lieut. Herndon,. 
who sank with his ship in the Mexican sea, was recently dead,, 
and Arthur himself seemed submerged in a sea of sorrow. Her 
likeness he kept in his room wreathed daily with roses, and. 
placed her memorial window in the church where he worshiped. 
He called his sister, Mrs. McElroj', daughter of Rev. Dr. Arthur, 
to his aid. Also Mrs. Carlisle, and ladies of his Cabinet, were 
kindly attentive.] (Read Psalm cvii, 23-43.) 

Its nice to have a Sister now, 

Like saintly Madame McElroy, 
When to bereavement nations bow 

And grief o'ershadows Arthur's joy. 
"His Excellency" can, too, enlist 

Dames of his Cabinet to come, 
And Madame Carlysle, to assist 

And make theWhite House more like ''Home."" 

But there's one woman waiting on the wall, 

The President's own privacy adorns; 
A smiling lady, neither large nor small. 

Whose face 's so winning it from folly warns. 
Her memory is matchless as a wife; 

Her influence her offspring e'er have felt; 
This loving consort hath so kept his life, 

She now seemed with him when each night he knelt! 

This was no fiction, but a worthy fact. 

That Arthur, and Van Buren, from his State, 
For no new consorts ever could contract; 

As loyal widowers they loved to wait, 
Though person and position gave them power 

To mate with partners most appropriate 
To act as hostess many a high-toned hour, 

And stand as aid in all the scenes of State. 

Arthur's devotion to his honored dead — 

His children's mother he hath cherished so, 
No lady would he as his life-mate wed; 

Nor sought the Nation his secrets to know. 
This new example hath ennobling power; 

Helps purify our hurrying populace; 
It sanctifies the faith, in sorrow's hour. 

Through this republic, and throughout the race; 
For such fond, conjugal fidelity 
Shameth all shades of sensuality. 



30 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

PRESimiNT CLEVELAND'S YOUNG WIFE. 

[Mrs. Frances (Folsom) Cleveland, born in Buffalo, July 21, 
1862, was the first President's wife married in his own Executive 
Mansion (1886.) At her wedding dinner and other times she 
declined intoxicatits. January 26, 1887, the W. C. T. U of Va., 
*' Resolved, That our heartfelt thanks are hereby tendered to 
Mrs. Frances F. Cleveland, for the position she has taken in the 
chief social circles of the Nation, as a total abstainer from all 
intoxicating drinks, and, we pray God's blessing on her young 
life, and on her hotne, believing that history will applaud her 
action as all sincere minds even now, approve her motives."] 
(Habakuk ii, 15.) 

That White House still 's the ''Nations Home! " 

It's bright young house-wife is a bride, 
The country's guests have hither come, 

To share the Presidential pride. 
The wisdom, fashion, and the wealth 

Commingle round the social board, 
And here and there, "They're drinking health" — 

The Hostess' glass hath water poured ! 

There's divine beauty in so bold a deed: 

There's moral courage matchless in the case; 
So frank and happy, it hath friendly heed. 

More pleasing, loo, for both its time and place. 
Aye, this young hostess other crowns hath won; 

On other subjects and in every scene, 
Never a damsel, nor a dame hath done [queen. 

More Christly things that might have crowned a 

She with a person perfect, well possessed, 

A prudent life; pious, loving and pure. 
With blooming health of soul and body blessed. 

With sentiments so well settled and sure. 
This young loved hostess of the "Land's White 

Reveals again the gift of valient grace, [House " 
Inspiring her, as Presidential spouse, 

To reach her hand of ruth to help the race. 

With thanks to God for giving "Adam's ale," 

This brave, yet beautiful, young far famed bride, 
With self possession, neither flushed nor pale. 

Here gives her course as our whole country's guide; 
That married women and wise maidens, too, 

Might all at at once, and will forever more, 
Eschew bad drinks, as all good Christains do, 

And drive the wolf from every woman's door. 
Then, like the homebred. Heaven born Lucy Hayes 
Let coming days, too, Frances Ci.evei,and praise ! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGIITKRS. 3[ 

MISS ELIZABETH CLEVELAND, 

[Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, the President's sister, offici- 
ated as hostess in the Executive Mansion until his marriage in 
'86. vShe is the daughter of a distinguished Presbyterian divine, 
and heiself in every way a most estimable woman. The follow- 
ing is from her pen: " There is a majesty of right, a royalty of 
truth, which, in manifold forms, claims allegiance and argues its 
claim. God sees in the tearful cry of the bruised and baffled 
mother, sister, wife, His own argument for the utter extinction 
of intoxicating beverages, the suppression, root and branch, of 
the rum traffic, and in that cry He makes His argument to 
men."— E. C's reply to Howard Crosby.] (Read Prov. xx, i.] 

Maicfen Mistress of "Our Mansion ! " 

"I should smile ! " and shall I meet her? 
I'd expect a pulse expansion — 

No: of pleasure none 's completer; 
She 's the honest soul of honor; 

So delights in sense of duty, 
That as people look upon her 
They believe "she is a beauty! " 
She is moral forces filled wi'h mental, 

Commonsensible, and kind, and solid, 
With a conscience wise — not accidental — 
And her views and virtues are all valid. 
A true woman, she's "a temp'rance worker; " 

And her sisters' claims she sees so clear 
That of duty she dares be no shirker. 

For Heaven heeds each home-made mother's tear! 

Such a person — safe in pure example. 

Prime in preseuce,prime in sense to see what's proper, 
Well may keep America's Home Temple, 

Nothing can stampede and nothing stop her 
In her care here to conserve her country; 

Prompting true sense of propriety, 
She is just the one to welcome gentry 

And secure true sanction of society. 

So completely fit seemed fair Rose ClEvei^and, 

A symmetrical, high-minded hostess. 
One can look at like a clean-cut headland, 

Saying: Such ''Our Mansion's Maiden Mistress!'' 
O how many such, this side of heaven, 

Sooner maidens than be wives of mad men, 
And by Providence, it's best have proven 

To be no man's bride than brides of bad men; 
But to have such beauteous behavior 
They'll espouse and love their Lord and Savior! 



32 OUR PRESIDENTS' WIVES, 

MRS. PRESIDENT BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

[Mrs. Carrie (Scott) Harrison is the daughter of Professor 
Thomas Scott, D. D., of Oxford, Ohio, where she met in 18.50 and 
married in 1852 her distinguished husband. They were Bible 
teachers when selected for the high Presidential office, and none 
of our Chief Executive people have possessed more decidedlj' 
biblical characters. Indeed, to her we may say in this regard: 
"Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them 
all."] (Prov. xxxi, 29.) 

'Twas in a social wedding scene, 

That God Incarnate gave them water; 

Pure drink brought to the bridal daughter 
Made known what marriage now doth mean — 
That virtue in the nuptial vow 

Stamps temp'rance on each time and station; 

Compels, indeed, this commendation, 
" But thou hast kept the best till now! " 

By this we boast not that these now are best 
Of all incumbents that have ever been; 
That Host and Madame Harrison here mean 

Their White House taste more than what's been to test; 

But seems it boasting, as by some, to say: 

This Mistress of tbat Mansion has maintained 
The place so pleasing not a soul's complained ? 

She's stampt impressions that shall more than stay. 

She has laid plans to help enlarge the place; 

Her modes of change high architects commend; 

Her practiced life helps real progress lend, 
Adding a grandeur and enduring grace. 
Her House is still a standard " Chri stain Home,'' 

Embosoms, yet, both aged and the young; 

And not a word from wicked pen or tongue, 
Of lisp't complaint hath to deponent come ! 

From "Abby Adams," down to " Francis C — " 
There's found no excellence assigned to fame. 
That hath not nourished this new Hostess' name: 

Nor will the future's best more faithful be ! 

But though some turned about their haughty backs 
Upon our valiant, browned, and vet'ran braves. 
She o'er them grieves; with tears waters their graves^ 

And could with comforts fill their old napsacks — 

Who lisps a line this last Chief lyady lacks! 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 3:> 

HARRISON'S DAUGHTER AND HER "BABY MC KEE." 

[The family group of age, middle age, early manhood and 
infancy, from venerable Dr. vScott to the Shoe-dealer's " Baby 
Boy," from great grand sire to great grandson, must close our 
White House Sketches now. The following impromptu narra- 
tive by one who met the Presidential party at Glenwood Springs, 
Colorado, in 1891, will perhaps help the readers to feel still more 
at home with the families in our Federal Mansion whom we 
choose to be models before the eyes of God and men.] (Read 
Ivuke xii, 1-12.; 

I never saw that ^'Bady" yet ! 

Its Mother I have iiiereh' seen; 
Her frieadly face I can't forget, 

Nor what must mean kind e3'es so keen! 
I met her in a motly host, 

With Rocky Mountains waiting round, 
Yet I admired /ler manner most; 

It had a. fitness so profound. 

As we exchanged a chosen word or two, 

While trending slowly through the whirling train, 
I was surprised to hear: "I've heard of you, 

And shall be pleased, if we shall meet again! " 
This is a sample of the pleasing soul, 

E-Kpressing from her very Princess' face, 
The culture of such Christian self-control 

As lends a grandeur to a lady's grace. 

When such a white, calm soul is seen, even where 

The populace will push each one his way, 
There is a something so suggestive there 

It strems like sunshine of a lovely day. 
'Tis like her Mother's most enlight'ning mood. 

That moves serene amidst emergencies, 
With God's own impulses supremely good. 

And holding hands of faith fondly in His. 

But, 1 would see the President's grandson! 

Whose sire doth buy and sell good boots and shoes. 
Like Roger Sherman, loved of Washington, 

And not ashamed of what all men shall use; 
Indeed, I want to see "Baby McKee! " 

For if he lives till I have left the stage, 
He'll have to bear "Grand-Pa's big hat," may be, 

And look like "Uncle Sam" our nation's sage! 
God grant the sons and daughters all to see 
Atid liear our Ivord say: " Ivove and follow Me! " 



34 A PEERESS OF PRESIDENTS. 

MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. 

[Harriet Beecher was born in L,itchfiekl, Conn., June 14, 1812, 
and married Professor Colvin E Stowe, of Lane Theological 
Seminary, Cincinnati, in 1836. She wrote many entertaining 
and useful works. The best of which she named "Uncle Tom's 
Cabin." It illustrated the evils of Slavery and so inspired the 
love of liberty, that, more than any other one cau.se, it roused 
the Rebellion, freed the Slaves and saved the Republic] (Read 
The Triumphal Song of Debora in Judges v.) 

Of all New England's noted towns, 

Whose women have their worth enhanced, 
And o'er the world earned wide renowns, 

And virtues all divine advanced, 
Old Litchfield fairly owns the lead; 

For Harriet Beecher here had birth, 
Who wrote what all men like to read — 

The thoughts that influence all the earth! 

When "Uncle Tom's" old-time log "Cabin" came. 

Three breathless students stood abreast and read 
Its columns hung on the high college-frame, 

While seven more stood where to seize their stead. 
How vividly such scenes have ever since 

The value of that book brought into view 
And yet its merits ever more evince, 

Till it hath thrilled all nations, through and through. 

The humane world inhales its moral worth; 

It disenthralled the denizens it thrilled; 
It gave to Liberty Lincoln's " new birth," '■ 

And treason, too, it kindly, truly killed. 
O ! builder of a book so near divine, — 

Whose numerous volimies were none made in vain. 
We reverent look on every book like thine. 

To count the eternal causes they contain. 

And so thy works we see will follow thee, 

All filled forever with thy faithfulness; 
From all the races thou hast rendered free, 

Shall millions blend thy memory to bless, 
And generations ceasless join to say: 

Thanks be to God ! Thy thoughts have been his gift. 
The beauties of thy love their lives obey. 

And every human lot the}^ heavenward lift, 
And swell the measure of thy moral sway, 
Till all oppression shall have passed away ! 

*See Eincoin's Gettysburg address. 



HASKELL'S REPLY 



TO 



Redpath's Eulogy 



OF 



JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



The Chief of the pro^lavefij I^ehellion, 



A REPLY TO JAMES REDPATH S EULOGY OF 
JEFFERSON DAVIS.* 



The distinguished French savant, Theodore Jouf- 
froy, said: "The history of Philosophy presents a 
singular spectacle; a certain number of problems are 
reproduced at every epoch; each of these problems 
suggests a certain number of solutions, always the 
same; philosophers are divided; discussion is set on 
foot; every position is attacked and defended, witli 
equal appearance of truth; humanity listens in 
silence, adopts the opinion of no one, but preserves its 
own — which is that which is called Common Sense.'' 
Now, strange as it may seem, this long definition of 
the average and ultimate opinion of humanity is as 
applicable to history as it is to philosophy; for the 
History of Philosophy and the Philosophy of History 
present substantially the same "singular spectacle," 
till even hiograpliy has to succumb to "the Silent 
Common Sense of Mankind." There may be multi- 
plied efforts to falsify historical facts, and ages, even, 
may suffer in silence under false systems of philoso 
phy, but eventually the right and true will prevail. 
This applies even to the most extravagant eulogies of 
historic character, to some of which now, Bryant's 
often-quoted poetical apothegm is more than ever 
appropriate: 

Truth crushed to earth shall rise again; 

The eternal years of God are hers, 
While Error, wounded, writhes in pain. 

And dies among his worshiDers. 

Although we need not fear for the final triumph 
of the truth, some efforts to falsify history are in their 

* For Eulogy and Answer, see The Commomvealth for Febru- 
ary and March, 1890. 



4: JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

immediate effects upon society so hurtful, and some 
eulogies are so exaggerated, and injurious because so 
unjust to great truths and issues, that the common 
Fense of humanity cannot afford to keep silent. Such 
I conceive to be some of the eulogiums pronounced 
upon the distinguished Secessionists, and inscribed 
upon their monuments. The most remarkable among 
these appears James Redpath's apology for Jefferson 
Davis, the great leader of the "American Rebellion" 
against the legitimate election of Abraham Lincoln, 
and which eulogy is entitled: "Neither Traitor nor 
Rebel." 

This, it seems to me, is a needless affront now to 
National Sentiment, an almost audacious demand, 
amidst even funeral obsequies, for public debate of 
what some have long since supposed to be dead 
issues; and that challenge, too, when all sensitive 
men would rather mingle tears with them that mourn 
than raise to life again tho old bloody contest from the 
new tomb of its most notable leader. No man could 
feel more keenly than I do the delicacy and diflQculty 
of this unseemly contest, and the discomfort incident 
to such a discussion. I knew Jefferson Davis well, and 
esteemed highly his gentlemanly bearing and every 
one of his distinguishing talents and virtues, and his 
almost peerless opportunities to serve and honor his 
united, happy and glorious Country! I knew and 
admired some of his near kindred, with whom I daily 
met before our Heavenly Father's throne and around 
t he table of his bounty. Many of my warmest friends 
were among this "great Statesman's" followers and 
comrades; and I would not needlessly wound any 
man, woman or child among his many worshipers, 
not even the enraptured admirer and lover whose 
surpassing attachments and pathos I am as a patriot 
instinctively answering. But there have been conse- 
quent upon Mr. Davis' political conduct more than a 
hundred million mourners, and many lands and ages 
must have suffered severely, if he had succeeded in 
nationalizing Slavery or in severing the Union. All 
these issues are forcibly brought anew before the 
American people now by his many— and often unpatri- 
otic — eulogiums. In answering the one now before us, 
in a manner suited to the general subject and to the 
interests of humanity that "listens in silence," w^e need 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. 5 

first to ask: Who the apologist is; why he speaks as 
Mr. Davis' mouthpiece, and what is the import of the 
testimony that he brings us? We need not go 
beyond his or/n words for much of the answers to 
these problems, and the rest is easily found on record 
and ready. 

Mr. Redpath himself tells us he is the biographer 
of John Brown, the (assistant) o?;iobiographer of 
Jefferson Davis, and the ardent lover of them both. 
He begins his "Life of John Brown" by saying in its 
first sentence: "I loved and revered the noble old 
man, and had perfect confidence in his plan of eman- 
cipation — I think that John Brown did right in in- 
vading Virginia and attempting to liberate her 
slaves." 

In the midst of his book Mr. Redpath shows 
how Brown had run off a great many bondmen from 
Missouri, and hoped by giving leadership and simple 
weapons of self-defense to the slaves of Virginia, he 
might induce multitudes of them also to escape, 
without a general insurrection, or the shedding of 
much blood. He also tells how Brown captured the 
National Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, was attacked by 
Federal troops, his son killed at his side, and his 
men, unbidden, fired three shots, and as many assail- 
ants fell; how Brown w^as then pinned to the earth by 
bayonets, and, when down, was smitten in his face 
with the sword; then weak and wounded was cast 
into prison, tried upon his couch in open court, con- 
demned and hanged under the following verdict: 
"Guilty of treason, conspiring and advising with 
slaves and others to rebel, and murder in the first 
degree." 

The memoir concludes with a quotation from a 
Southern correspondent, saying: "The students in 
the medical college at Winchester had skinned the 
body of one of Brown's sons, separated the nervous, 
muscular and venous system, dried and varnished 
them, and had the whole hung up as a nice anatomi- 
cal illustration. Some of the students wanted the 
skin stuffed, others wished it made into game- 
pouches." "Such," says Redpath, "such is the spirit 
of Southern Slavery!" 

Now, a little later, after the lapse of only thirty 
years, after less than a third of a century, during 



6 JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

which both slavery and rebellion have been blotted 
out with the best blood of near half a million of the 
bravest soldiers ever born of educated and saintly 
women, and the greatest events and issues of the civil 
world have been enacted and settled, this same James 
Redpath becomes the assistant historian, and auto- 
biographer, even, of Jefferson Davis, the distin- 
guished champion of slavery and instigator and leader 
of the "Great War of the Rebellion." This associa- 
tion of these two men, is one of rare and interesting 
significance, suggesting the greatness of the change 
in public opinion and in their own predilections. 
They seem to come instinctively together from the 
extremes of the country and of political convictions, 
to become mutual admirers, if not actual lovers, at 
sight. Of all the literary names laid before Mr. Davis, 
none was so attractive to him as that of James Red- 
path. He sent for him as preferred above all others. 
South or North, an invitation so cordial it was indeed 
irresistable, saying: "The sooner you come and the 
longer you stay the better will it please ?(S." The 
whole household seem united in this hearty invita- 
tion, and extended to their guest the full, proverbial 
and elegant "Southern hospitality." 

Mr. Redpath, therefore, came to Bemivoir, and 
was soon quite at home with the great secessionist, 
and as happy as he was welcome. He "remained 
nearly the entire summer," being in Mr. Davis' com- 
pany all that time from six to ten hours daily. "In 
order to assist him with the least friction and loss of 
time, it became necessary that he should study the 
State Rights doctrines. Mr. Davis therefore gave 
him such of his writings on that topic as embodied 
his personal views, and held long conversations with 
him, till, Redpath says: "I felt competent to state 
the Southern theory without any doubt as to the cor- 
rectness of my understanding of it. During the long 
period we were together we talked of every important 
event in his long eventful life and discussed almost 
every issue between the North and South." From 
first to last, evidently, they were very friendly and 
familiar. Says Redpath: "Before I had been with 
Mr. Davis three days, every preconceived idea of him 
utterly and forever disappeared. I never saw an old 
man whose face bore more emphatic evidences of a 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. i 

gentle, refined and benignant nature. He seems to 
me tlie ideal embodiment of sweetness and licrht. 1 
do not like him-I love him! And when I realized 
that he was on his death-bed, I found no sleep till 
my pillow was wet with tears -for the love for the 
good and great old man made me anxious to know 
niore of his career, as well as to enpy more the 
society of his charming household at Beau voir. 

Now let me ask, before proceeding to analyze his 
eulogium, Could Jefferson Davis possibly have selected 
and prepared a more suitable and competent apolo- 
gist or a more impassioned and eloquent eulogist, 
thai James Redpath? Was there ever, since the days 
of Jonathan and David, such mutual admiration and 
love as existed between these two men? They see^n 
so close, indeed, that either might have written the 
other-s autobiography. It must be very pleasing to 
the Southern secessionists and planters and interest- 
incT to all, to see such a union of souls established 
between the great proslavery leader and the lover ot 
John Brown- whose '^body lies mouldering m the 
grave, while his soul goes marching on, o er the land 
of the free and the home of the brave!" Such facts 
and feelings are very suggestive, and such burdened 
yet beautiful language from such personages can- 
not possibly be an appeal, or bid, for popular appro- 
bation from any part or section of the literary public. 
Yet these pleasing phenomena are not sutticiently 
interesting and surprising, even in the midst of gen- 
eral and tender sympathetic feeling, to justify tor- 
getting or falsifying the most essential facts ot 
American history. Nor have the leaders of the R3bel- 
lion generally, nor Messrs. Davis and Kedpath in 
particular, been willing they should ba forgotten; 
though we must think they at least greatly misinter- 
preted them and mean permanently to change the 
public mind, if it were possible, and hU it again with 
the old political errors that have been so dangerous 
and expensive. It seems as if it were as it was often 
before the war-poliUtcal heresies are trumped up 
and harped about, till the chief agitators are those 
arguing most against agitation. Mr. Redpath says: 
*'It is time to drop, and drop forever, the old war cant 
about Rebellion and Treason," and yet he makes 
them the theme of his eulogium; and the testimony 



8 JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

he brings before us upon them is professedly also 
that of his patron. "I will present," he says, "only 
such views as Mr. Davis himself maintained; the 
language only is mine; the statements and arguments 
are his." He then gives two common sensible defini- 
tions of Treason and Rebellion: "A Traitor is one 
who violates his allegiance and betrays his country. 
A Rebel is one who revolts from the country to which 
he owes allegiance." He then claims that our citi- 
zens owe allegiance not to the United Country but to 
their several States. He, however, adds: "If the 
fathers intentionally created a Nation, then it follows 
without dispute that the Confederates w^ere both 
'Rebels and Traitors,' for they certainly did fail in 
their allegiance to the Federal Government for four 
years, and they certainly were Rebels against its 
authority." From these premises, what must be 
their Commander-in-Chief? The Fathers c?/c?, inten- 
tionally, found an "Independent Nation," one that 
was so acknowledged all over the world. They 
planned, toiled, fought and prayed for this, and God 
so heard their prayers and helped them, that Wash- 
ington said: "Every step by which the people of the 
United States have advanced to the character of an 
Independent Nation, seems to have been distin- 
guished by some token of Providential agency." 
And the grateful people have also prayerfully sung: 

"O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand, 
Between their loved homes and War's desolation; 

Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land, 
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a Nation !'''' 

Our history and literature and diplomacy have 
countless assertions of that sort. The States do not 
have them. Diplomacy, therefore, cannot deal with 
the States, but with the Nation. Washington on 
this matter said: "It will be worthy of (us as) a 
free, enlightened, and, at no distant day, a great, 
Nation, to give to mankind the too novel example of 
a people always guided by an exalted justice and 
benevolence." "The name of Americans, w^hich 
belongs to you in your National capacity, must 
always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than 
any appellation derived from local discriminations." 

He was utterly averse to every idea of State Sov- 
ereignty and Secession. "It is of infinite moment*' 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. 9 

(he says in his last appeal to the American people) 
"that you should properly estimate the immense value 
of your National Union to your collective and indi- 
vidual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, 
habitual and immovable attachment to it; accustom- 
ing yourself to think and speak of it as the palladium 
of your political safety and prosperity; watching for 
its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenanc- 
ing whatever may suggest a suspicion that it can in 
any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning 
upon every attempt to alienate any portion of our 
Country from the rest." 

Now Redpath says: "Mr. Davis maintained that 
the vindication of the South (in the late war of 
secession) rested on these two consideratiens — The 
rightful power to secede; and the causes that justi- 
fied the exercise of that power." As to the first of 
these, Mr. Madison, "The Father of the Constitution," 
as he is called, wrote to Alexander Hamilton that 
New York could not ratify the Constitution condition- 
ally, reserving the right to withdraw in case a cer- 
tain amendment should not be made; for, said he: 
"The Constitution requires an adoption in toto 
and forever^ In another letter he wrote: "The 
idea of reserving a right to withdraw was started in 
Richmond, but was abandoned as worse than a rejec- 
tion" — this in part because it militated against "the 
perpetuity of the Union" already plighted by all the 
States and thoroughly established. The States 
emerged from the Revolutionary War as a consoli- 
dated Nation, The first of their Articles of Confed- 
eration named that Nation "The United States of 
America." The last one said: "Whereas, it hath 
pleased the Great Governor of the world to incline 
the hearts of the Legislatures we represent to 
approve and authorize us to ratify the said Articles 
ol perpetual Union, know ye that we, the undersigned 
delegates, do fully and entirely ratify the said Arti- 
cles of pferpetucd Union, and we plight the faith of 
our constituents that the Union shall be perpetual P'' 
This w\is done in 1778. In 1787 the Constitution was 
adopted on the basis of that imperfect but enduring 
compact. It declares "We the people of the United 
States, in order to form a more perfect Union, estab- 
lish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for 



10 JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

the common defense, promote the general welfare and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 
posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution 
OF THE United States of America." 

Now in the face of these organic facts, need I take 
the time of intelligent people to discuss the absurd 
proposition that a part is greater than the whole; the 
State superior to the Nation, the county to the State, 
the town to the county, and the precinct supreme 
over all, having a right to secede at will? In 18G0 
Mayor Wood, of New York, reasoning so, urged that 
city to secede and imitate South Carolina; but the 
people saw that instead of becoming "a free city" it 
would emerge from freedom into bondage to Europe, 
or becoQie simply an object of pity and plunder. 
ICdmund Randolph fitly represented the absurdity of 
the State Sovereignty doctrine when he suggested 
how silly it would seem for the General Government to 
say: "May it please your high mightinesses of Vir- 
ginia to comply with your Federal duties! We implore, 
Ave beg your obedience!" Then, on the other hand, he 
showed the Virginia Convention that ratified the 
Constitution the true dignity of patriotism. "I 
have labored," said he, "for the continuance of this 
Union, as the rock of our safety. 1 believe as surely 
as there is a God in Heaven, our political happiness 
and existence depend upon the Union of the States. 
The American spirit ought to be mixed with 
National pride — pride to see the Union magnificently 
triumph! Let no future historian inform posterity 
that we wanted wisdom and virtue to concur in the 
establishment of an efficient Government. The Na- 
tional Government o?f^/^Mo be fully vested \M\i\i power 
to preserve the Union, protect the interest of the 
United States and defend them from external inva- 
sions and internal insurrection.'''' He believed with 
Madison and Washington, that they were making a 
great and mighty Nation, and that the people and 
the States alike, who adopted the Constitution, 
"adopted it in toto and forever," with its inherent 
jowers of amendment and of execution, and that 
I hey surrendered their own sovereignty to the Nation 
to that extent, giving it a self-perpetuating existence 
and power. The speech of Andrew Johnson, of Ten- 
nessee, January, 1861, to that effect, and claiming 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. 11 

that "Secession is Treason and nothing but Treason,^^ 
is forever unanswerable. Therefore "the rightful 
power of the States to withdraw from the Union of 
1787 (claimed by Davis) has not been conceded by 
successive generations." Nor have "the causes which 
led to the act been admitted to be an all-sufficient 
justification." Far from it. 

"Mr. Davis submitted as a justification of the with- 
drawal of the Southern States in 1861: (1) The destruc- 
tion of the balance of power wiiich existed when the 
Constitution was adopted. (2) Subsequent legislation 
for sectional advantages rather than the general 
welfare. (3) Persistent violation of obligations which 
the States had assumed in the formation of the com- 
pact of Union, and (4) Incessant hostility culminat- 
ing in Invasion, showing the Union was no longer 
one of the heart." In answering in their order 
these assersions, we ask, First: "The balance of 
power" was what? and between ivhat? The equi- 
poise sought by the founders of the Government 
was the equal distribution of wholesome National 
authority throughout the body politic, for its benefit 
in all its parts. The balance of power to which 
Mr. Davis refers was between slavery and free- 
dom, the Slave States and Free States; the rivalry 
between the South and North, against which Wash- 
ington warned the whole country in most eloquent 
words. The South began this contest before the 
Constitution was formed, and warmly kept it up till 
the end of the late war. All the causes of complaint 
lie justly against the South. To secure equal repre- 
sentation in Congress, the Slave States demanded in 
the Constitution the right to import slaves and cast 
three votes for every five slaves they might import or 
raise, counted with true "Southern generosity." 
This of course was even supreme "legislation for sec- 
tional advantages" to begin with, but it was on Davis' 
side. By this excess of power the Slave holder 
secured sixty years of the Presidency to the Free 
States' twenty; eighteen judges of the Supreme Court 
to the North's eleven; twenty-four Southern Presi- 
dents (pro tem) of the Senate to ten; twenty-three 
Speakers of the House from the South to twelve from 
the North; fourteen to five Attorney Generals; eighty- 
six to fifty-four Foreign Ministers; while the Comp- 



12 JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

trollers, Auditors and Chief Clerks, etc., were largely 
from the South; as were also the officers of the Army 
and Navy, with soldiers and sailors mostly from the 
Free States. The "legislation for sectional advan- 
tages'' was so generally favorable to the South, that 
Hon. Alexander H. Stevens exclaimed in the Georgia 
Convention, January, 1861, "The Government at 
Washington has always been true to Southern inter- 
ests!" and asked: "What Southern right has the 
North assailed? What interest of the South has 
been invaded? What justice has been denied? 
Can anyone to-day name one act of wrong by 
the Government at Washington of which the South 
has a right to complain? I challenge the answer!" — 
"Then, leaving out of view the countless millions of 
dollars you must expend in a war with the North, 
with tens of thousands of your sons and brothers 
slain in battle, and offered up as sacrifices to your 
ambition— I ask for what would you secede? Is it to 
overthrow this American Government — that has done 
you no wrong — which was established by our com- 
mon ancestry, cemented and built up by their sweat 
and blood, and founded on the broad principles of 
Right, Justice and Humanity? As I have often said 
before, it is the freest Government, the most equal in 
its rights, the most just in its decisions, the most 
lenient in its measures, and the most inspiring in its 
principles to elevate the race of man, that the sun 
ever shone upon. For you to attempt the overthrow 
of such a Government as this, is the height of mad- 
ness, folly and wickedness, to which I can neither 
lend my sanction nor my vote!" 

Such was the patriotic feeling then of a majority 
in the South. The Raleigh (N. C.) Banner, said: 
"The big heart of the people is still in the Union ! Less 
than a hundred thousand* politicians are endeav- 
oring to destroy the liberties and to usurp the rights 
of more than thirty millions of people. If the people 
do not prevent this, they deserve the horrors of the 
Civil War which will ensue; they deserve the despot- 

* Out of these 100,000 politicians only forty-two came to- 
gether February 4, '61, at Montgomery, Alabama, assuming to 
represent the seven States, and adopted the new Constitution, 
elected Jefferson Davis, its deviser, for President, and put the 
new Government at once in running order. 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. 13 

ism under which ihey will be brought, and the hard 
fate which will be their lot." But the original case 
was far worse than this. The French Revolution,. 
Warville tells us, was carried by not more than 
twenty men: The Southern Rebellion was organized 
by ten from seven States, met in secret conclave at 
Washington, on Saturday evening, January 5, 1861 
^the same week of Stevens' and Johnson's great 
speeches against Secession. Those ten Senators, still 
holding seats under allegiance to the United States, 
agreed upon the following plan (published in 
National TnteUigoicer, by some informer, the follow- 
ing week, but not generally believed): "Assume as 
Senators, as far as possible, the political powers of 
your several States, devising immediate measures to 
forestall regular elections by the people; inaugurate 
at once a Provisional Government, by the following 
means: Urge by mail and telegraph the several Cot- 
ton State Conventions, now and soon to be in session, 
to refer no acts for ratification to their constituents,. 
as contemplated in their appointment, but pass as 
near as possible, one and the same Acts of Secession, 
and another calling a joint convention of all the 
States seceding, ostensibly to devise measures suited 
to their common welfare, but really to assume 
the immediate functions of the Provisional Govern- 
ment. In defense of this scheme urge the several 
Governors (or if necessary irresponsible men) to take 
possession of the United States Forts and Arsenals,. 
Mints and Custom Houses, in the name of their 
respective States, till the Provisional Government 
may safely assume them to itself, and even the Post 
and Telegraph offices, allowing the United States to 
carry still the expensive Southern mails; urge the 
Legislatures of Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Vir- 
ginia into unanticipated acts or quasi resolutions of 
Secession, or at least to call conventions which may 
so resolve; make sure of the sympathy of Army 
officers by personal influences, such as will best 
secure the end; retain seats in the United States Sen- 
ate, unless positively recalled, till at least the fifteenth 
day of March, in order to tie President Buchanan's 
hands, prevent enabling legislation, and keep the 
North and National Government in doubt; and if the 
way be clear and exigencies demand, instigate and 



14 JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

aid daring men in Baltimore to kidnap (kill?) the 
incoming President in transit of Maryland." 

This plan was adopted without a dissenting vote 
and its perjured author was put at the head of its 
executive committee to begin at once to carry it out. 
At his instance United States Senator Yiilee wrote 
on the Sabbath, but dated on Monday, the following 
letter to a Florida Secessionist: 

Washington, January 7, 18B1, 
My Dear Sir — On the other side is a copy of resolutions 
adopted at a consultation of Senators from the Seceding States, 
in which Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Miss- 
issippi and Florida were present. The idea of the meeting was. 
that the States should go out at once, and provide for the early 
organization of a Confederate Government, not later than the 
fifteenth of February. This time is allowed to enable Louisi- 
ana and Texas to participate. It seemed to be the opinion, if 
we left here, force, loan, and volunteer bills might be passed, 
which would put Mr. Lincoln in immediate condition for hos- 
tilities; whereas, by remaining in our places till the fourth of 
March, it is thouglit we can keep Mr. Buchanan's hands tied, 
and disable the Republicans from effecting any legislation which 
will strengthen the hands of the incoming administration. In 
haste. Yours truly, D. L. Yulee. 

Were ever conspiracy, treason, rebellion and per- 
jury more foul? It were a sin to suggest that Wash- 
ington or Lincoln or Lee could ever have joined in 
such conspiracies. But here the real cause of this 
Treason and Rebellion comes conspicuously into 
view. Redpath savs: "The South did not light for 
Slavery?" What ^did they fight for? For State 
Rights? Absurd! The doctrine of State Rights 
would have disintegrated the Rebel Confederacy 
itself in the midst of the war if its President, Davis, 
had indulged the idea. No; the contest was for 
Slavery ail the way from the beginning! Said 
Stevens: "When we of the South demanded the 
Slave trade, did the North not yield it for twenty 
years? When we asked a three-fifths representa- 
tion in Congress for our Slaves, was it not granted? 
When we demanded the return of fugitives, was it 
not incorpor.Rted in the Constitution and made effec- 
tive by the Fugitive Slave Law? When we asked 
that more territory should be added that we might 
spread the institution of Slavery, have they not 
yielded to our demands and given us Louisiana, 
iPlorida and Texas?" Yes; all these successive wars 
■of words in the Legislative H:ills of the Nation were 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. 15 

waged over Slavery and won entirely in its behalf. 
The brutal assault upon Senator Sumner was for 
words spoken in debate against the extension of 
Slavery. The sectional animosity was on account of 
Slavery only. Senator Iverson, of Georgia, said: 
"Slavery must be maintained — in the Union, if possi- 
ble; out of it if necessary; peaceably if we may; 
forcibly if we must." A little later he said: "There 
is but one path of safety to the South, but one mode 
of preserving Slavery, and that is a Confederacy of 
Slave States alone. The fifteen Slave States would 
present to the world the most free, prosperous and 
happy nation on the face of the earth." 

Hon. Li. W. Spratt, of South Carolina, said before 
the Montgomery Congress: "The contest is not 
between the North and the South as geographical 
sections, nor between the people of the North and the 
people of the South, for our relations have been 
pleasant, and on neutral grounds there is nothing to 
estrange us; but the real contest lies between the 
two forms of society. The one is bound together by 
the two great social relations of husband and wife, 
parent and child; the other by the three relations of 
husband and wife, parent and child, and master and 
slave. The one embodies the principle that equality 
is the right of man; the other that it is the right of 
equals only. The South is now engaged in the for- 
mation of a free Slave Republic." 

The Confederate Constitution also said: "No law 
denying or impairing the right of property in Slaves 
shall ever be passed. In all Territory actual or 
acquired, the institution of Negro Slavery, as it now 
exists in the Confederate States, shall be protected 
by Congress and the Territorial Government." The 
vice-President of the Confederacy said: "The new 
Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating 
questions relating to Slavery which was the imme- 
diate cause of the late rupture." He also said that slav- 
ery is "the chief corner stone" of their new free Repub- 
lic. This was understood both at home and abroad. 
Professor Cairnes, then the distinguished economist 
in Dublin University, wrote in 1863: "While the 
North has arisen to uphold the Union in its integrity, 
Slavery is yet the true cause of the war, and the 
real significance of the war is its relation to slavery." 



16 JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

Lord Palmerston said to Mr. Mason: "England could 
not recognize the Southern Confederacy because they 
were fighting to found a Slave Empire, which was 
obnoxious to the sentiments of Her Majesty's Govern- 
ment," and the Confederate Ambassadors confessed 
that fact was fatal everywhere to their recognition. 
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation put that issue 
still more clearly, and in his last inaugural he said: 
*'A11 hnew that the Slave interest was somehow the 
cause of the War. To strengthen, perpetuate and 
extend that interest the insurgents would rend the 
Union by War." And then he utters thai sublime 
passage — which may have suggested to Mr. Davis the 
picture from his former plantation scenes when he 
said to Redpath: "The power that holds the icliip 
by the handle never does recognize the need of the 
groans and kicks that come from the body that 
stands at the other end." Mr. Lincoln's solemn 
words were: "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we 
pray that the mighty scourge of war may speedily 
pass away; yet if God wills that it continue until all 
the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and 
fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until 
every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid 
by another drawn with the sword, as was said three 
thousand years ago, so still it must be said, that the 
judgments of the Lord are righteous altogether." 

Mr. Redpath says Mr. Davis, the invader of Penn- 
sylvania, where Meade lost 23,186 and Lee 31,621 
valiant men, the flower of the Nation, gave the inva- 
sion of Virginia by John Brown in which five were 
killed, as one cause of secession ! Surely that was a 
very significant event — but does not Mr. Davis over-do 
the matter a little by that allusion at this late day! 
That event was at most a mere omen. 

He ends with the complaint that there was "a 
want of hearty reverence for the Constitution and 
the Union." Yes, that was so, sadly so! But as in 
all other complaints, the wrong was on the wrong 
side. I remember Preston S. Brooks, for his assault 
upon Senator Sumner, had a Southern reception at 
which he said: "I tell you, fellow citizens, from the 
bottom of my hearty the only way to meet the issue 
upon us is, just tear the Constitution of the United 
States, trample it under foot, and form a Southern 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. 17 

Confederacy, every State of which shall be a slave- 
holding State." And his colleague, Mr. Keitt, who 
in his eulogy of Brooks said, "Heaven never opened 
to receive a purer spirit," exclaimed to hia constitu- 
ents: "Take your destiny in your own hands and 
shatter this accursed Union. Carolina could do it 
alone; if not, she could at least throw her arms 
around the pillars of the Constitution and involve 
all the States in a common ruin!" It is said "this 
was greatly applauded." But Redpath declaies: "I 
never met any public man who revered the Constitu- 
tion as Jefferson Davis revered it." I never did either. 
Why, I have here Davis' own published opinion, also 
^'that he and his secession army were fighting for the 
Constitution and Lincoln and his hordes were waring 
against it." "Such knowledge is too wonderful for 
me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it;" I must 
simply submit it to the Common Sense of Mankind! 

Finally, the eulogist ends by saying, "for the 
benefit" of foreign lands and guests: "There are two 
Jefferson Davises in American history. One is a con- 
spirator, a rebel, a traitor, and the fiend of Anderson- 
ville — he is a myth evolved from the hell-smoke of 
cruel war — as purely imaginary a personage as 
Mephistopheles or the Hebrew devil. The other was 
a statesman with clean hands and a pure heart, who 
served his people faithfully from budding manhood 
to hoary age, without a thought of self, with unbend- 
ing integrity, and to the best of his great ability; he 
was a man of whom all his countrymen, who knew 
him personally, are proud." 

Here "humanity listens in silence" to learn how 
these two contrasted characters came into American 
history; and Common Sense answers: They are the 
embodiment of real facts and deeds, as seen by both 
his foes and followers. Look first at the former per- 
sonage in the light of historic facts and see whether 
he be wholly imaginary: He is called a Conspirator, 
Rebel, Traitor, and responsible for the fiendish treat- 
ment of the Federal troops who were made his pris- 
oners of war. A Conspirator is one who conspires or 
engages with others in plotting treason against their 
government. The ten Senators who sat by day 
under oath in the Councils of the Nation, and by 
night planned the Rebel Confederacy within the 



18 JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

boundary of the United States, were Conspirators, 
or there never were men guilty of conspiring to com- 
mit treason. The chosen leader, acting freely and 
from choice, was the Chief of Conspirators. The 
United States Senator who advised Secretary Floyd, 
his successor, to send South the munitions of war in 
the North, Secretary Cobb to send the subtreasury 
and Secretary Thompson to telegraph that the Star 
of the West was bearing food to our beleaguered gar- 
rison in Forts Moultrie and Sumpter, so that their 
supplies might be tired on and cut off — that Senator 
and those Secretaries were all perjured Conspirators, 
Traitors and Rebels, or there never were Rebels, 
Traitors nor Conspirators— they are indeed ia iVmeri- 
can history as such, and as such they will remain 
there forever! I do not say this of all those who 
enlisted in the l^ebel Army, after they supposed the 
Rebel Confederacy was really a new Nation that 
urged on them a claim for their allegiance, but those 
above named, of whom Jeffe'son Davis was Chief, 
were not imaginary, but actual, treacherous, rebel- 
lious Conspirators. They originated and urged for- 
ward what Lincoln afterwards pathetically called "a 
Needless and cruel Rebellion," and they did it 
expecting great blood-shed, but hoped it would be in 
the North. Ex-President Pierce had written to Mr. 
Davis (January 6, 1860): ''My Dear Friend: I 
have never believed the disruption of the Union can - 
occur without blood; but if the dire calamity must 
come, the fighting will not be along Mason and 
Dixon's line merely; it will be within our own bor- 
ders and in our own streets." The next year, how- 
ever. President Buchanan said (see B's Administra- 
tion p. 98):, "The first shot fired at Moultrie and 
Sumpter will arouse the indignant spirit of the North 
and unite the people as one man to support a war 
rendered inevitable by such an act of Rebellion." 
They anticipated this; they conspired against the 
Government; they betrayed their country both at 
home and abroad, and they deliberately brought on 
and waged with desperate energy what history has 
called and will so name forever — "The Great War of 
the Rebellion." During that war they destroyed in 
one battle fifty-four thousand and eight hundred of 
their own brothers, and captured in all one hundred 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. 19 

and eighty thousand patriot soldiers and put them 
in pens and gave them food unfit for cattle. The 
stockade at Andersonville, Georgia, stands as a type 
of them all — and I will not say that the Jefferson 
Davis who w^as there, once at least, is "the fiend of 
Andersonville now in American History;" but I will 
call on an excellent Christian neighbor who was there, 
to be duly sworn and under oath tell you what he 
saw there and suffered. 

THE AFFIDAVIT OF STEPHEN HOPKINS' DESCENDANT: 

My name is James H. Hopkins. I was born in Hillsborough, 
Highland County, Ohio ; am a member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and reside with my family at No. 2041 LaFayette 
Avenue, Denver, Colorado; am by trade a brick mason and 
builder. My father, John W. Hopkins, was Second Lieutenant 
in the same regiment in the Mexican War with Major Winder, 
under command of Colonel Jefferson Davis, and they were 
warm friends. (The Ohio and Mississippi boys and Winder's 
Artillery fought together.) My grandfather, Shelby Hopkins, 
served under General Winfield Scott in the War of 1812-15; 
and his father was Stephen Hopkins, Chief Justice of Rhode 
Island and signer of the Declaration of Independence. I enlisted 
as a volunteer in the Forty-eighth Regiment, Ohio Infantry, in 
the Federal Army; was in thirty battles, and was made prisoner 
at Chikamauga, was taken to the Rebel prison at Florence, 
Alabama, thence to Andersonville, Georgia, and detained there 
eleven months, in all nineteen mouths and four days. There 
was an average of twenty-seven thousand prisoners on an area 
of fourteen acres, and our privations and sufferings surpassed 
the power of words to describe. Our food some days, with no 
fire, was corn meal, cob and all; others a stalk of sugar cane, and 
on others a little black bean, etc., many days nothing. In a 
region of great fertility and a time of abundant harvests culti- 
vated by slaves, we were fed upon rations so unpalatable and 
scanty that thirteen thousand nine hundred and twelve patriot 
soldiers died in eleven months— apparently starved to death by 
design of the Rebel authorities. Captain Wurtz told Davis in 
my hearing: "Send the soldiers down to me; lean kill more 
than Bob Lee can." The intentional alternative was, starva- 
tion, or enlist against the United States. Once Jefferson 
Davis, accompanied by General Winder, visited the prisoners 
to get them to become Rebel soldiers, and be released. They 
appealed to me, in my emaciated condition, to organize a regi- 
ment out of my comrades, have the command and prospective 
promotion in the (Confederate Army. To this offer I replied 
that I prefer death to dishonor, and would sooner perish by 
starvation than bear arms against the stars and stripes of the 
United States. Mr. Davis said : "All right; you will die then!" 
— for he preferred we should all starve to death, rather than 
live to fight against tlie Confederate States ! Thus my father's 
old war comrades closed abruptly the conference. We all suf- 
fered indescribable hunger, heart-ache, bodily discomfort from 
vermine, and pain consequent upon the famine and cruelties 



20 JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

purposely imposed; in the midst of which the alternative urged 
upon us to become rebels was the most horrible and tantalizing. 

James H. Hopkins. 
Duly certified and sworn to before David Keith, Notary 
Public, Denver, January 29, 1890. 

I do not know how mythical Mephistopheles and 
his Satanic Majesty are, but Jefferson Davis was 
real, and the chiefly responsible personage at Ander- 
son ville, then; he threw open, also, the prison gates to 
the one hundred and eighty thousand patriot pris- 
oners, on the terms above given. But with the slow 
tortures to death by starvation staring them in the 
face, not two per cent of the heroic martyrs accepted 
the dastardly and diabolical offer. O, my country- 
men, was there ever before such courage and love for 
your country! But it was worthy of it! or it would 
not have such sons that could so suffer! 

Though Captain Wurtz was subsequently hanged 
for murders in the first degree on testimony of the 
Confederate guards and surgeons, he said to me just 
before his execution: "Sir, I was obeying orders." 
And I believed him. 

Jefferson Davis returned to Richmond, and while 
the prison was still ruled with such relentless rigor 
that the starving patriots picked even the kernels of 
corn from the offal of the mules kept busy in carting 
away the dead to their trenches, he issued (Octo- 
ber 26, 1864) this "Proclamation of Thanksgiving" 
which I hold in my hand and in which he said: 
"Let us in temples and in field unite our voices in 
recognizing with adoring gratitude the manifesta- 
tions of God's protecting care— m the fruitfulness 
ivith wliicli our land has been blessed! — and (further) 
let us not forget that many of our best and bravest 
have fallen in battle and that many others are still 
held in foreign prisons." — ''''Foreign prisons!" Alas! 
what narrow, insane and needless alienation! The 
largest, finest, most enlightened, most historic and 
most happy part of his native land, that educated, 
honored, loved him, that part containing Princeton, 
Trenton, Saratoga, Niagara, Ticonderoga, Crown 
Point, Concord, Lexington and Bunker Hill — all cast 
off forever, to be henceforth to him as a foreign 
country! And while his captured troops are treated 
kindly as erring fellow countrymen and conferred 
with as kindred, so that those in Fort Warren in full 



THE CHIEF OF THE REBELLION. 21 

view from my Boston window, even boasted that they 
"fared sumptuously every day," with Jefferson Davis' 
colleague one of the witnesses, oiu^ trooj^s in his 
prison were perishing with hunger, in regions which 
they knew belonged still to their own indivisible Re- 
public! — But enough of this! It is too bitter to remem- 
ber! God knows I wish to forgive and forget it, and 
would not have spoken unless forced by denials of the 
facts to expose them. Was there ever such forbear- 
ance and forgiveness as that shown after the war by 
the Federal Government, which said to the insur- 
gents, like Joseph to his brethren who had sold him to 
bondage and to prison: "Fear not ye: ye meant for 
evil what God meant for good, as it is at this day, to 
bless many peoples!" 

Leaving Redpath's second personage for his eulo- 
gists to portray according to their pleasure, I will draw 
in conclusion a few inferences from the facts already 
before us — which are stubborn things and will remain 
in history forever established. "The War of the 
Rebellion" was for slavery; and yet it resulted in 
the abolition of slavery forever. Jefferson Davis was 
the indispensable cause and Commander-in-Chief of 
that Rebellion, and was by far, as I believe, the 
ablest of all the Secession Leaders and Generals; 
and yet he was so greatly changed that he chose at 
last as his helper and bosom adviser the Biogra- 
pher of John Brown, the mystical sign of the slaves' 
manumission. The great Republic that Davis sought 
to destroy by division, remains more consolidated and 
merciful than ever, so that he lived on unmolested in 
his Family Mansion, most "Beautiful to Behold," and 
possessed to the last of his countless unconfiscated 
acres. He was also protected in every possible enjoy- 
ment, reflecting the "beneficence, the light and the 
sweetness" of our free institutions in his counten- 
ance, and finally died in peace among his own wor- 
shiping people. Was there ever given to man before 
so gracious a Government, through which God 
revealed so much of his long suffering with men, and 
His sovereignty of wisdom, of justice, and goodness, 
and mercy? As the x^ast, present and future move 
on in one bright and overwhelming panorama before 
me, I see His Sovereign Majesty serenely seated 
above it all; in every stormy war I understand the 



T2 JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

voice of His thunder, and on the late dark retiring 
cloud that still reverberates, I behold the bow of 
hope hung up in the light of His countenance, and I 
dare believe our beloved land shall now remain peace- 
ful, united, prosperous, and never again suffer from a 
bloody deluge. To this end, let the warnings of his- 
tory have always a reverent hearing, and the rising 
generations pay due heed to the judgments of 
Jehovah. 

Jefferson Davis is dead! I see his monument 
rising before the American people. It is the most 
imposing that chivalry, art, wealth and affection can 
furnish. It bears not merely the name, like those of 
Mount Vernon, nor is it a simple shaft, like the loftiest 
cenotaph the sun ever illumined, in honor of the 
Father of his Country; but it is heavily inscribed 
with both elegy and eulogy, expressing only what his 
friends would hand down to the future. But human- 
ity looks on and listens in silence and preserves its 
own opinion — the enduring conviction of the country 
saved through so great conflict and suffering; and 
the Common Sense of Mankind will continually come 
along and read between the lines the epitaph as it 
should have been written. And when the relentless 
fingers of Time shall have rubbed out every inscrip- 
tion, and his mighty hand shall have thrown down 
the monument, there will still be written in history 
and upon the heart and memory of humanity, also, 
this simple, solemn memorial, more enduring than 
Time, and more eloquent than eulogy: Wrong — 
though overruled and forgiven — is wrong forever. 
Jefferson Davis betrayed, at home and abroad, the 
unity, life and glory of his country that bore and 
blessed him ; he revolted from the best Government 
ever given to humanity and rebelled against its most 
benign ruler, Abraham Lincoln, and did this in 
behalf of human bondage, nor retracted his errors; 
and so, for the warning of the future, let there stand 
by the name of Jefferson Davis this indellible stigma: 
Both Traitor and Rebel ! 

March 1, 1890. T. N. Haskell. 



BribBi'ij and the Ballot, 



AS SEEN IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. 



The history of bribery reaches far back, and the 
testimony against it has been incessant and eloquent. 
Laws, human and divine, have been declared and 
executed against it, and the moral sense of mankind 
seems to loathe it as much as to look upon a devilish 
serpent. The Hebrew Commonwealth became a 
kingdom because the people hated the bribery of its 
judges, and Judas hanged himself for his betrayal of 
Jesus for $15. My subject is therefore repellant, 
but too important and perilous to be left without the 
most unflinching and frequent exposure to the public 
gaze and reprobation; for its worst effects are against 
oar most sacred franchises, and when aimed at 
debasing American suffrage, the source of our Gov- 
ernment, it is the unpardonable sin that should never 
be forgiven nor forgotten. 

The word bribe — of both Gallic and Gaelic origin, 
meaning first in French, "a morsel of bread," as that 
for which "Esau sold his birthright" — has come to 
mean any material inducement offered to impair ones 
moral judgments. In Persian the w^ord is akin to 
para, a piece of money; and so that is now^ oftenest 
used in bribery, but not always. Anything by which 
men are hired to do wrong is and always was a bribe, 
and its penalties have ever been severe. Eliphaz 
the Temanite, said to Job, the Emir of Uz and earli- 
est of known authors, as if to reprove him with some 
then ancient proverb: "Deceitful men shall be 
desolate 'and the tabernacles of bribery' shall be 
destroyed." Near the same time Ruel Jethro, the 
father of jurisprudence, said to Moses, the founder of 
the Jewish Commonwealth: "Thou shalt provide 

* See The Commonwealth, September, 1800. 



Z ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men 
of truth, hating bribery and covetousness, and place 
such as rulers over the people at all seasons," adding: 
"If thou shait do this and God command thee so, 
then shalt thou endure and all this people go on their 
way in peace." In the days of the Hebrew Judges, 
the divine sentences against Eli and Samuel's sons for 
their bribes and sensuality were such as made "the 
people's ears to tingle." David, the most heroic and 
devout of the Hebrew psalmists and kings, exclaimed: 
"Let me not abide with wdcked men 'in whose hands 
is mischief and their right hand is full of bribes.' " 
And Isaiah, the sublimest of their poet seers, said: 
"He that despiseth the gain of oppression and shak- 
eth his hands from holding of bribes shall dwell 
on high, his place of defense shall be the munitions 
of rocks, his bread shall be given him, and his water 
shall be secure" — in other words, he shall be safe, all 
his wants supplied and he shall be ex.dted among 
men. Centuries later, when Judaism was transferred 
among the followers of Jesus, and Simon Magus 
would bribe even God and the chief of His Apostles, 
Saint Peter said to him: "Thy money perish with 
thee!" And Saint Paul exclaimed to a similar charac- 
ter: "O, full of subtlety and all mischief, thou child 
of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt 
thou not cease to pervert the right ways!" 

Ancient Pagans often proclaimed against bribery 
in politics. A few "liberal" excerps from Greek and 
Latin authors will illustrate this. Demosthenes, in 
one of his patriotic orations, said: "When a bribe is 
cast into one scale it then preponderates and forces 
down the judgment with it; so that it is not possible 
that a person thus influenced can ever offer to his 
country good service. For these reasons our fathers 
thought themselves bound to look with deep concern 
upon the introduction of bribery into Peloponnesus, 
and proceeded v/ith such severity against all they 
could detect in it as to raise monuments to their 
crimes." He probably here refers to a brazen column 
then standing in a public place in Athens, and bear- 
ing this inscription: "Let Arthmius, of Zelia, the 
son of Pathonax, be accounted infamous, because he 
first brought gold (as bribes) from Media into the 
Peloponnesus." Again Demosthenes says, as if in 



BRIBERY AND THE BALLOT. 6 

despair: "Of all the popular constitutions of the 
Grecian States I do not know if there be one left now 
that is firmly established; for when the men admin- 
istering their affairs would bribe thos3 capable of 
selling their integrity, they have always a foreign 
potentate ready to furnish money for the purpose." 

Of this King Philip himself boasted, saying, in 
his famous letter to the Athenians, concerning the 
Greeks that were crying out against him: "I could 
easily have silenced with a little gold their clamors 
and changed them to praises. But I should blush to 
purchase your favor through such wretches." 

[This reminds me of the mercenary motives of the 
journalists of England who were bribed against us a 
few years since in our war time. The American 
press now-a-days is also sometimes purchased in its 
opinions. It was not long ago a New York editor 
said to a convention of journalists: "I am paid so 
much a month for keeping an honest opinion out of 
my paper. Others of you are paid like salaries for 
doing the same thing. We are the mere tools of rich 
men behind the scenes." For reasons of this sort I 
suspect that whole fonts of subsidized type in Colo- 
rado may be set up against the right of this appeal, 
with no power of hired type or pen or tongue to turn 
their tide of abuse away; yet it were better to avert 
the evils of this corroding avarice from our country 
than avoid any personal discomfort by neglecting a 
plain public duty.] 

The further appeals of Demosthenes against brib- 
ery and the probable fact he too was afterwards 
himself corrupted, enhance our duty to be courage- 
ously and invincibly faithful, for his words on this 
subject ar€ still further intensely admonitory, and his 
subsequent sufferings from compunction, or public 
suspicion, were fearful. As he watched the moral 
decline of his country, he said with increasing sever- 
ity and sadness: "The noblest principles of the past 
are being so subjected to the power of gold that such 
things appear as affect the very safety and vitality of 
Greece. What are they? Envy, when a man has 
received a bribe; laughter if he confesses it; pardon 
if he be convicted; resentment at being accused, and 
all the other outcome of corruption." How like is 
this to the laughing countenance and unlawful 



4 ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

shielding of modern frauds and political intrigue! 

But the wise old patriot waxes j'et warmer and 
exclaims: "I call heaven and earth to witness there 
are those among us who do not blush to live for 
Philip; ivho have not sense enough to see they are 
selling themselves and their country for a miserable 
pittance. * * Our army, our navy, our reve- 
nues, all things that are esteemed the life, security 
and strength of the State, have lost their efficacy by 
means of these traffickers. Formerly to be guilty of 
such practices was accounted a crime of the blackest 
kind which called for all the severity of public justice, 
but now our National interests are exposed for sale 
as if in a market. Even the emoluments of these 
offenders are influencing others to aspire after public 
office solely for thie display of such silly ostentation. 
* * In earlier days the private habitations of 
the men of eminence were so modest, so consonant 
with the equality and genius of our Constitution, 
that the house of Themistocles, of Cimon, of Aris- 
tides, Miltiades, or any of these illustrious person- 
ages, was not distinguished by the least mark of 
grandeur. But now some of the men who have con- 
ducted our state affairs have built houses not only 
more magnificent than those of our wealthy citizens, 
but even superior to our public edifices; others have 
purchased and improved an extent of land beyond all 
that their former dreams of wealth could have pre- 
sented to their fancy. O my countrymen!" he 
exclaims, "My countrymen! it is wrong, it is shame- 
ful to desert the ranks of noble mindedness in which 
our ancestors have placed us!" 

It was thus that most eloquent of ancient orators 
appealed to his own people against the growing 
power of avarice and civil corruption. It is 
exceeding sad to see how at last he too was seduced 
by this subtle and subversive sin against which 
he had breathed his severest invectives. Well 
did Aeschenes, in his oration against Demosthenes' 
ambition for repeated public honors, say: "It is the 
perfection of the statesman to possess that goodness 
of mmd which may ever direct him to the most salu- 
tory measures, together with that skill and power of 
utterance which may effectually commend them to 
his hearers; yet, of the two, integrity is to be pre- 



BRIBERY AND THE BALLOT. 



ferred to eloquence^ Demosthenes' oratory was of 
small account when he too sold the safety of his 
country, or fell at least under the popular suspicion 
that he was not after all supremely devoted to the 
public welfare. 

Yes, Demosthenes, even, was brought to trial for 
the offense of bribery. He was charged with having 
been hired not to appear against one Harpalus, a 
wealthy refugee from the bouse of Alexander, thereby 
endangering the peace and safety of the Greek 
Republic. Dinarchus, his accuser, said to the 
Athenian Archons: "You have condemned Timo- 
theus, the son of Conon, to a fine of a hundred talents 
because he had confessed receiving bribes from the 
Rhodians; and should not Demosthenes, a much 
niore distinguished person, be punished according to 
his rank, for having accepted a costly vase and ten 
talents from Harpalus, and thus manifest to the world 
a just sentiment toward those who are bribed against 
the public safety?" He further says: "In the case of 
bribery two different punishments are prescribed 
The first is death, that the fate of the offender may 
deter others from following his example. The second 
is ten fold the bribe received, that others may dread 
being disappointed in their sordid expectations." 

Though Demosthenes declared his innocence, and 
his plea of ill health might have excused his not 
appearing to prosecute Harpalus, if the court had 
believed him, yet the presumption appeared to be so 
strong against him that the Areopagus sentenced 
him to prison and to pay the State a fine of fiftv 
talents. He escaped into exile, and as he looked 
toward Athens he wept and warned all young men 
who came near him against the danger and guilt of 
corruption in politics. 

Bribery grew until it had ruined both Greece and 
Rome. The oracle of the early Pvthian Apollo said: 
"Nothing but avarice can conquer Sparta." And it 
was indeed bribery that did it. Caius the Samnite 
said: "When the Romans begin to take bribes there 
will soon be an end to their flourishing Empire." In 
accordance with this prediction Cicero ascribed the 
ruin of the Roman Republic to the moral and social 
degeneracy of her people, particularly specifying 
avarice conducing to bribery as the vice most dan- 



6 ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

gerous and destructive. Historic facts confirm the 
philosophy of these forebodings. The Roman Sena- 
tors and Consuls were often suspected of being pur- 
chased. The Emperors who followed were full of 
corruption. C^sar gave a pearl worth two hundred 
thousand dollars to Servilia to buy the favor of her 
son Brutus, and paid three hundred thousand dollars 
to bribe the consul Paulas. Crassus gave many 
bribes and large ones. Antony squandered millions 
in like manner. Caligula wasted in a year one hun- 
dred and twenty million dollars that Tiberius had 
left him, and Seneca says "he was born to show the 
world what mischief may be done by the concurrence 
of great wealth and great wickedness;" that "he 
spent fifty thousand dollars on a single dinner, and 
divided his life betwixt an anxious conscience and 
a nauseous stomach." Jugurtha bribed commis- 
sioners sent by the Senate to save the life of his 
nephew, Adhermal, but he murdered him, never- 
theless, and then bribed even the Senate; and when 
the Tribune Memmius exposed his bribery and he 
was banished, he went his way, saying: "O venal 
city! Thou shalt soon perish if I can find a pur- 
chaser!" 

Seneca assures us there was so much popular and 
official debasement in his time, that "it became dan- 
gerous to be honest and only profitable to be vicious; 
vice itself was preferred and commended; all inso- 
lence became exemplary and lawful and people took 
malevolent comfort in the number of the wicked." 
"Men rejoiced," he said, "in uncleanness, theft, and 
ambition, and even valued themselves on their excel- 
lency in ill-doing." He also infers that "when the 
strife is thus, who shall be most profane and impious, 
people will have every day less shame and worse 
passions. Sobriety and conscience will become fool- 
ish and scandalous till it is half the relish of their 
lusts that their sins are committed in the face of the 
sun. Innocency is not only rare but lost, and man- 
kind enters into a confederacy against virtue, to say 
nothing of intestine strifes, fathers and sons in league 
one against another, poisoned fountains, troops in 
search of the proscribed and banished, rape and 
adultery authorized, public perjuries and frauds, a 
violation of common faith and all the bonds of 



BRIBERY AND THE BALLOT, / 

human society cancelled." "It seems an idle thing," 
he suggests, "to think of preserving such a people, 
who find both advantage and honor in corruption." 
"Who," he asks, "would have imagined that Clodius 
should have come off by bribery from debauching 
the wife of Caesar and profaning the vows that are 
for the very safety of society?" "But he did bribe 
even the judges," says Seneca, "not only with money 
but by pandering to their very worst passions and 
vices." In the courts of justice and the canvass for 
office, he said: "He that gives most carries his 
cause. All vices gain upon us by the promise of 
reward; avarice promises money; ambition, prefer- 
ment. Contempt of poverty in others, the fear of it 
in ourselves, unmerciful oppressions and mercenary 
magistrates are the common grievances of a cor- 
rupted government." 

Thus, too, does Seneca follow Demosthenes and 
Cicero to decry against the avaricious degeneracy of 
the Greek and Roman people, which was in sickening 
contrast with the elder Scipios' conscience, who could 
not be bribed against his country by the offer to 
bring back to him his only son even, from captivity. 
From the testimony of such patriot sages we see how 
avarice and ambition for office really ruined the 
Roman Empire and Republic, as it had Sparta and 
Attica. The Roman degeneracy continued till the 
Praetorians actually sold the throne to the highest 
bidder! 

But let us here conclude our free translations 
from the old foreign classics with these more cheering 
and ennobling extracts. "A good man," says Seneca, 
"is influenced of God and has a kind of divinity within 
him. It was so Cato waged war with the wicked 
customs of Rome and Scipio with her enemies, and 
bating even the better consciousness of virtue, who 
would not, after all, rather be an honest man for the 
sake of the nobler approbation of the good and wise 
in all ages; for you shall find virtue in the temple, in 
the field, or upon the walls, covered with dust and 
blood in the defense of the public, and its deeds 
are immortal, while the victims of avarice are 
found sneaking in the stews and sweating their lives 
away under the weight of their own vices." With a 
noble complaisance he suggests that his countrymen 



» ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

should take pattern from the testimony of a good 
conscience and be able to say: "I have lived for ray 
country and my kind. Though under Caligula I 
saw such cruelties that to be killed outright was 
accounted a mercy, yet I persisted in my integrity 
and showed that I was willing and ready more than 
to die for it. My mind was never corrupted by bribes, 
and when the honor of avarice was highest I laid 
not my hand upon any unlawful gain or fruit of 
injustice." — Such semi-inspired sentiments as these 
against avarice and bribery, strange as it may seem, 
had little power to save the liberties of the Greek 
and Roman people; and even these classic authors 
themselves had serious defects contrary to our Chris- 
tian system, so that Bishop Hopkins' words in his 
American Citizen, are worthy of serious attention, 
where he says: "The only basis of safety in the use 
of our universal suffrage is the virtue and intelligence 
of our people united in support of the Constitution 
and the laws under the sanctions of the Christian 
religion." 

But bribery corruption has been brought into 
Christendom also. Judas, one of the Twelve, 
betrayed his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, but in 
his compunction cast down his money and decently 
hung himself. Many others in high offices have been 
brought to grief by bribery, and, by their punish- 
ments, made some amends for the bane of their bad 
example. In England bribery appeard early, but it 
has been bravely met several times in Great Britain, 
and never more so than in the case of Sir Francis 
Bacon, the accomplished viscount of Saint Albans. 
As keeper of the Seal and High Chancellor of Eng- 
land, he was charged before the House of Lords with 
having received money for grants of offices and privi- 
leges under the Seal of the State. He confessed his 
sin and left his sentence to the "p^f^ of his peers;" 
and notwithstanding his distinguished service to his 
country and mankind, as a man of letters and culture, 
a philosopher, and statesman of the highest offices 
and standing, admired of the Court and a favorite of 
the Crown, he was sentenced to a line of two hun- 
dred thousand dollars, imprisonment during the 
King's pleasure, and to be forever disqualitied for 
office, sit in Parliament or to appear within the verge 



BRIBERY AND THE BALLOT. \) 

of the Court. Such an "exemplary" punishment, 
severe as it was, has been ever since useful. 

Near a century later the subtle vice of bribery was 
again so much in vogue in England, that Sir Robert 
Walpole used to say: "All men have their price." 
This led to his being watched with suspicion lest he 
should put his mean motto into practice, and he was 
indeed soon indirectly detected, tried, convicted and 
sentenced to imprisonment and fine, after the manner 
of Sir Francis Bacon before him; but party feeling 
made his punishment appear so much like persecu- 
tion that he was afterwards restored to some import- 
ant public positions and appeared penitent and par- 
tially honored and useful. The people of Great 
Britain and America will never cease to be warned 
by the sentences against Bacon and Walpole. 

The laws against bribery in Great Britain and 
America are similar. In the United States there are 
perhaps more specific statutes than in England 
against pohtical corruption, because our Government 
all rises from suffrage and rests upon it, and if that 
be undermined and corrupted the whole superstruc- 
ture is imperiled; yet in defiance of law and regard- 
less of danger, there have been late conspicuous 
efforts at bribery tending to break down and destroy 
the legitimacy of even the National election. The 
forged "Morey letter" to defeat Garfield in 1880, is an 
illustration of political dishonor in appealing to preju- 
dice and mercenary passion, and it deprived the 
incoming President of the electoral votes on the 
Pacific coast. Had the elections elsewhere been 
close it would have founded the executive Govern- 
ment of the whole Nation for the next four years 
upon that one act of felony. The undeniable dis- 
patches sent in 1876, from Oregon and elsewhere in 
cipher, should never be forgotten nor easily forgiven 
by patriots of any party. 

One who buys his way into office must be unfitted 
for public service by that very fact. Could he be a 
desirable President who would buy for himself the 
Presidency? Mark what manhood must be bartered 
away on both sides. Consider the divine and human 
barriers that must be broken down. What a debas- 
ing course of education has bribery, even in our 
country. Buying of primary votes, bribing canvass- 



10 ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

ingf boards to bring in false returns, "purchasing one 
elector" when one vote may turn the presidential 
scale, and every step in this climax of stupendous 
frauds violates some clear and virtuous statute. 

Our State and National laws are all now well 
established against every form of political corruption, 
and he seems hardened indeed and hopeless who 
would defy them. I place here two regular statutes; 
please read them carefully and see with what care 
also they were enacted. The laws of Colorado declare: 
"If any person shall, by bribery, menace, or other 
corrupt means or device whatever, either directly or 
indirectly attempt to influence any voter of this 
State in giving his ballot, or deter him from giving 
the same, or disturb or hinder him in the free exer- 
cise of the right of suffrage at any election in this 
State at which he is entitled to vote, or shall fraudu- 
lently change or alter a ballot or cause any other 
deceit to be practiced with intent fr.aiduL^nlly to 
induce such elector to deposit the same a,s his vote, 
and thereby have the same thrown out and not 
counted, every person so offending shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, not 
exceeding two hundred and flfty dollars, or imprison- 
ment not more than six months." False testimony 
of voters under oath is a penitentiary offense also. 

The Election laws of the United States are still 
more signiflcant and severe: "Any member of either 
House of Congress who asks or accepts or receives 
any money, or any promise, contract or understand- 
ing, obligation, gratuity or security for payment of 
money, or for the delivery or conveyance of anything 
of value, either before or after he has been qualified, 
or has taken his seat as such member, with intent to 
have his vote or decision on any question, matter, 
cause, or proceeding which may be at any time 
pending in either House or before any committee 
thereof, influenced thereby, shall be puni.-li'J i)\ a 
fine not more than three times the amount asked, 
accepted or received, and by imprisonment not more 
than three years." 

"Any Judge of the United States, who in any 
way receives or accepts any sum of money or other 
bribe, present or reward with intent to be influenced 
thereby in any opinion, judgment or cause depending 



BRIBERY AND THE BALLOT. 11 

before him, shall be fined and imprisoned at the dis- 
cretion of the Court, and shall be forever disqualified 
to hold any oflBce of honor, trust or profit under the 
United States." 

There are also corresponding laws punishing with 
like severity any persons offering directly or indi- 
rectly to bribe a Judge or a member of Congress, or 
an executive or revenue officer of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Members of Congress may not officiate in 
matters of financial interest to themselves, lest they 
be influenced thereby not to legislate solely for the 
public or general welfare. The ethical reasons for all 
these careful regulations are supreme and usually 
self-evident. No person can ignore them and be 
worthy of public trusts or suitably patriotic. 

My poor father said to me a few hours before he 
died: "My son, all I have to leave you is my untar 
nished name, your time when you shall be sixteen, and 
your right to vote when you are one and twenty," 
and to this day I am proud of the inheritance. But 
that name which I have not dishonored, that time 
which I improved in self-education and the service of 
my country, and that right of suffrage which cost blood 
and treasure and the struggle of ages, are of little 
avail to me if I see inferior men securing by fraud 
their nominations to office, and when I go to the polls 
find fifty persons there before me each paid to 
neutralize my ballot. 

Both Houses of Congress should be so incorrupti- 
ble that any man of ordinary sense and moral 
sensibility should be intensely uneasy in a seat to 
which he was elevated by a fraudulent ambition. 

A good conscience toward suffrage helps to see the 
hatefulness of the unholy ambition that has always 
been so hurtful to society. The aspiration to be true 
and useful is the essential honor. That goodness of 
mind that would guide to beneficent measures, that 
eloquence that is able to command them and that in- 
tegrity of character which Aeschenes applauded, have 
abounded in the American Congress, the Courts and 
the Executive Mansion, and one can hardly think of 
the great men who have «at in those seats and left in 
the House and the Senate, upon the Supreme Bench 
and in the White House their halo of glory, without 
emulation and wishing to be like them — and such is 



12 ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

a laudable ambition. But, O how sinister, how nig- 
gardly selfish must be the narrow souls that would 
offer to buy of an American citizen his suffrage! 
The wonder is that any briber of a ballot should ever 
wish or expect the world's approbation, or should 
dare undertake the duties of an elective office. 

I have now expressed my reprobation of the 
great reproach and evil brought upon the country 
by the bribery of the ballot. It I have spoken 
severely it has been because there seemed to be special 
need of severity. It has certainly been more in sor- 
row than in censure! I have felt and written as a 
patriot, not as a partisan; have sought the public 
good, not my personal gratification. I have never 
willingly put a thorn on any man's pillow. It has 
given me pain to expose and prosecute my familiar 
neighbors and particular congenial friends. But 
franchise is more than friendship; it is the life of the 
Nation. Were my dearest brother in this great 
wrong, I would defend the right, hit whom I might. 
With this feeling I appeal to my countrymen, to the 
just people of Colorado and to all General Assem- 
blies to contest every inch of ground with the corrup- 
tors of the sacred source of our civil power, and let 
the right prevail and the future reward our fidelity. 

The completest remain of antiquity is the Temple 
of Theseus at Athens. There it has stood in solitary 
grandeur more than twenty centuries as his monu- 
ment—not because he was an Argonaut, not because 
he slew wild bulls, boars and giants, killed even the 
monster of Crete to whose devouring maw Athens 
had given yearly seven youths and as many young 
maidens, not even because he had consolidated his 
country and conquered his foes; but because he 
refused to be her king and gave her a free constitu- 
tion and the right of suffrage. Let those who sym- 
pathize with these sentiments put on their virtuous 
armour and defend them with valor. Let no man 
despise his birthright. The past with all its sacri- 
fices and examples, the Present with all its obliga- 
tions, the Future with all its hopes, unite to say: 
Let every public servant do his duty, and every 
citizen stand sentry; then will our suffrage be safe, 
and saved the Great American Republic. 



Haskell's Konkaput 



Occasional Poems. 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 



While no adverse criticism of this book has yet 
appeared, it is quite gratifying to see with what em- 
phasis and unanimity the press has commended these 
poems, for both their local interest and their pros- 
pective permanence in the popular literature of this 
country. Below are a few extracts, given as samples 
of the best editorial opinions : 

From THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS— 

(FOUNDtD 1859). 

Some time since two paper covered volumes of Poems from 
the pen of Professor T. N. Haskell, issued successively from the 
press. The first was entitled "Young Konkaput, the King of 
Utes ; a Legend of Twin Lakes," and is a poem about the length 
of Hiawatha. The hero is an ideal educated Indian, who real- 
izes and depicts the only possible happy future for his race, and 
falls a victim to its ingratitude. Though called a legend, there 
are many incidents in Konkaput of historic importance, and 
many fine descriptions and passages of great beauty. "The 
Key to Konkaput, or the Fate of the Meeker Family," will be 
read with rare interest. The second volume contains a number 
of shorter poems. Foreign, Patriotic, Juvenile and Domestic. 



The Foreign Poems show that Professor Haskell has been an 
extensive traveller, and reproduce the first impressions received 
at the places that inspired them. The Centennial Poems and 
others on national subjects, are full of true patriotic feeling, and 
whatever the topic touched, the sentiment is always on the right 
side. These two volumes are now united in one book, neatly 
bound in cloth and morocco, and offered to the public. This 
volume is in clear print, on good paper, and contains numerous 
illustrations. Kven those who possess the separate books will 
be glad to obtain them in this more substantial and attractive 
form. Besides points of special interest to Western readers, the 
work possesses literary merit that will win and hold its place 
with the reading world. 

From ROCKY MOUNTAIN HERALD— 
(founded i85o). 

"Haskell's Konkaput, King of the Utes" with "Occasional 
Poems at Home and Abroad," is an attractive volume of some 
five hundred pages well illustrated by the best of Colorado artists. 
Indeed, the entire book, beautifully printed, is the product of 
Colorado talent, and should, therefore, be more readily purchased 
and appreciated by our home people. The chief poem was 
written to illustrate the Indian Question in the United States, 
and incidentally presents our relations to all the colored races 
of this country. This is done by creating two or more imagin- 
ary personages, and preparing them by eventful experiences, 
observation, travel and education to tell the story, each to their 
own race, with intelligent and thrilling eloquence. 

" The Key to Konkaput, or the Fate of the Meeker Family,', 
illustrates well the saying that " Fact is sometimes stranger 
than fiction," and will be read by the friends of the late Mr. 
Meeker with tender regard. Already the book is highly praised 
by numerous purchasers and the discriminating press. Besides 
being filled with points of special interest to Western readers, 
the book contains literary merit that is bound to place it among 
the favorite works of the age. 

From DENVER REPUBLICAN— 

"Young Konkaput, the King of Utes," and several other 
poems written by Thomas Nelson Haskell, has been published 
in very attractive form by Collier & Cleaveland, of this city. 
The main poem, representing the real deserts and difficulties of 
the Indian Question in the United States, is a versified Legend 
of Twin Lakes, and has many poetic gems. The story embodies 
the rescue, by United States troops, from the Arapahoes and 



Sioux, of the favorite Ute squaw, Susan, or Shawsheen, who for 
her gratitude, in turn rescued the Meeker women The tone of 
the poem is loflv, and the descriptive passages are strong and 
finely drawn. Mr. Haskell is a Colorado man, and he has 
cleverly interwoven his story so as to present the most interest- 
ing scenes and Indian romances of the Rocky Mountain region. 

Fwm THE DENl'ER TIMES— 

Prof. Haskell's book of poems entitled " King Konkaput," 
is fresh from the press of Collier & Cleaveland, and is worthy of 
popular favor. " King Konkaput" is the story of the Indian 
Qjiestion told in pleasing rhyme, and the author evidently .saw 
the good side of the noble red man. The book is certainly 
worthy the support it is receiving. 

From THE DENVER EYE— 

The story of " Konkaput, th- King of Utes, and .Shawsheen, 
His Maiden Queen," is of thrilling interest, and, told in Profes- 
sor Haskell's inimitable style of poesy, it holds the reader's 
closest attention from beginning to end Haskell's Occasional 
Poems (bound in the same volume), is a collection of many of 
the lichest gems of thought that has flown from this poet's 
gifted pen, some of which have before appeared in the current 
literature of the day. The book has been issued both in paper 
covers and in elegatit cloth and morocco binding, and reflects 
much credit upon the publishers, Collier & Cleaveland. Profes- 
sor Haskell's poetical genius is too well known to require any 
endorsement from the press, and now that he has presented to 
the public, .so many of his poems in a collected form, they will 
doubtless meet a very flattering reception at its hands. 

From THE MILITARY REVIEW— 

We have " Young Konkaput and" Occasional Poems," by 
Thomas Nelson Haskell, which are profusely illustrated. To a 
lover of real poetry, original thought and dramatic situations, 
we are convinced the.se poems will be of the deepest interest. 

From GOLDEN GJ.OBE— 

Prof Haskell's "Legend of Twin Lakes" is a book setting 
forth very fully the Ute-Meeker Massacre, and treats the Indian 
Question in a masterly manner. We commend it to the reading 
public. 



--^^ 

Frotn COLORADO SPRINGS G:AZFJTTE—Su i 

" Young Konkaput, the King of tlie Utes, a Legend of Twin 7 
Lakes," is the title of a volume by Thomas Nelson Haskell^S^ 
which has just been issued. The book is written in an attractive } 
and simple style of verse. The author, in the preface, states ^.^ 
that the work has been prepared chiefly for the youth of Amer- A* 
ica, and its practical object is to impress upon the rising public 
some of the real deserts and difificulties of the Indian Question. 
Professor Haskell's intimate acquaintance with the habits and 
traits of character of the Red man, especially fitted him for the 
preparation of the work. He has made it not only an interest- 
ing story but a useful one to those studying the important ques- 
tions connected with the wielfare of the Indians. The author 
needs no introduction to our readers. His work in behalf of . 
Colorado College is well known in our city, and his deep interest 
in the educational and other interests of the State in general 
have made his name familiar throughout the State. The book 
will be found at book stores, bound both in paper and cloth. 



FOR SALE BY 

CHAIN, HARDY & CO., 

BOOKSELLERS, STATIONERS A«D PUBLISHERS, 

1609-1615 ARAPAHOE STREET, 
DENVER, COLORADO. 



Konkaput, paper cover | 50 

Occasional Poems, paper cover . 50 

Both in one volume, cloth i 50 

Both in one volume, morocco 2 50 

Domestic Poems, cloth 50 



''^T^A 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

016 112 523 4 



m 



i 



